Stand Out In The Gig Economy: The Best Freelance WordPress Themes Unveiled

Are you ready to take your freelancing career to the next level? In the fast-paced gig economy, standing out is crucial. That’s why we’re here to unveil the best freelance WordPress themes that will help you create a stunning online presence.

In today’s digital age, having a professional website is a must-have for freelancers. It’s your virtual storefront, showcasing your skills, portfolio, and services. But with countless themes to choose from, finding the right one can be overwhelming.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! In this article, we’ll dive into the top WordPress themes specifically designed for freelancers. These themes not only have sleek designs but also offer customizable features to make your website truly unique. So let’s get started and find the perfect theme to make your mark in the gig economy!

Are you a freelancer looking to stand out in the gig economy? Discover the best freelance WordPress themes to showcase your skills and attract clients. These themes offer unique features that will help you create a professional and eye-catching online portfolio. From customizable designs to easy-to-use interfaces, these themes have it all. Don’t miss out on opportunities – choose the perfect freelance WordPress theme and make a lasting impression in the competitive gig economy.

Stand Out in the Gig Economy: The Best Freelance WordPress Themes Unveiled

The gig economy has revolutionized the way people work, offering freelancers the opportunity to pursue their passions and create their own careers. As a freelance web developer or designer, one of the most important tools at your disposal is a WordPress theme. In this article, we will uncover the best freelance WordPress themes that will help you stand out in the gig economy. With their stunning designs, customizable options, and user-friendly interfaces, these themes are essential for showcasing your skills and attracting clients. Let’s dive in and explore the top themes that will take your freelance career to new heights.

1. Ultra

If you’re looking for a versatile and visually striking WordPress theme, Ultra is the perfect choice. With its impressive selection of pre-designed templates, you can create a unique and stunning website that will make you stand out from the competition. Ultra’s intuitive drag-and-drop builder allows even the least tech-savvy users to easily customize their website to reflect their personal brand. Whether you’re a web designer, photographer, or writer, Ultra provides the flexibility and functionality you need to showcase your skills and attract clients.

One of the standout features of Ultra is its extensive library of add-ons and third-party integrations. From social media integration to e-commerce capabilities, Ultra has everything you need to create a dynamic and interactive website. Additionally, Ultra is fully responsive, ensuring that your website will look great on any device. With its attractive design options and powerful functionality, Ultra is a top choice for freelancers in the gig economy.

Benefits of Ultra:

– Vast selection of pre-designed templates for easy customization
– Intuitive drag-and-drop builder for users of all skill levels
– Extensive library of add-ons and third-party integrations for enhanced functionality
– Fully responsive design for optimal viewing on any device

Vs:

Ultra vs. Avada: A Comparison of Top WordPress Themes

When it comes to choosing the best WordPress theme for your freelance career, two of the top contenders are Ultra and Avada. Both themes offer a wide range of features and customization options, but they have some key differences that may influence your decision. Let’s take a closer look at how Ultra and Avada stack up against each other.

1. Design and Customization: Ultra offers a vast selection of pre-designed templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, making it easy to create a visually stunning website. Avada also provides a range of customization options, but its design elements may require more technical knowledge to implement effectively.

2. Performance and Speed: Ultra is optimized for speed and performance, ensuring that your website loads quickly and efficiently. Avada has a reputation for being feature-rich, but it may sacrifice some performance in the process.

3. Support and Updates: Both Ultra and Avada offer excellent customer support and regular updates to ensure that your theme is up-to-date with the latest WordPress features and security patches. However, Avada has a larger user base and a more extensive community, which can be advantageous when seeking assistance or troubleshooting.

Ultimately, the choice between Ultra and Avada will depend on your specific needs and preferences. If you prioritize ease of use and stunning design options, Ultra is the ideal choice. However, if you require more advanced features and customization capabilities, Avada may be the better fit for your freelance career.

2. Divi

Divi is not only a powerful WordPress theme, but it is also a complete website building platform. Designed with freelancers in mind, Divi offers a range of features that make it easy to create stunning websites without any coding knowledge. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can effortlessly customize your website and showcase your portfolio in a way that captures clients’ attention.

One of the standout features of Divi is its library of professionally designed templates. Whether you’re a graphic designer, content writer, or marketing consultant, Divi has a template that fits your unique style and profession. Additionally, Divi’s responsive design ensures that your website will look great on any device, catering to the increasing number of mobile users in the gig economy.

Benefits of Divi:

– Intuitive drag-and-drop builder for easy customization
– Extensive library of professionally designed templates for various professions
– Fully responsive design for optimal viewing on any device
– Complete website building platform with additional features like split testing and role-based user access

3. Astra

Astra is a lightweight and highly customizable WordPress theme that is ideal for freelancers looking to create sleek and modern websites. With its extensive library of pre-built websites and templates, Astra offers a wide range of options for showcasing your skills and attracting clients. Whether you’re a writer, photographer, or graphic designer, Astra provides the flexibility and functionality you need to create a professional and visually appealing website.

One of the key selling points of Astra is its excellent performance and fast loading times. With its lightweight design and optimized code, Astra ensures that your website will load quickly, enhancing the user experience and potentially boosting your SEO rankings. Additionally, Astra is fully compatible with page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder, providing even more customization options for freelancers who want complete control over their website’s design.

Benefits of Astra:

– Lightweight and fast-loading design for optimal performance
– Extensive library of pre-built websites and templates for various professions
– Highly customizable with compatibility with popular page builders
– SEO-friendly features to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results

Tips for Choosing the Best Freelance WordPress Theme:

1. Define Your Goals: Before choosing a WordPress theme, clearly define your goals and the impression you want to make on potential clients. Consider your target audience, niche, and branding. This clarity will help you choose a theme that aligns with your vision.

2. Consider Customization Options: Look for themes that offer customization options such as color schemes, fonts, and layouts. This will allow you to create a unique website that reflects your style and personality, helping you differentiate yourself in the gig economy.

3. Check Responsiveness: With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s crucial to choose a theme that is fully responsive. This ensures that your website will provide an optimal viewing experience on any device, attracting clients who browse on smartphones or tablets.

4. Research Support and Updates: A responsive and helpful support team is essential when troubleshooting issues or making customizations. Additionally, regular theme updates are crucial to ensure compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress and maintain security.

5. Look for SEO Optimization: Choose a theme that is SEO-friendly, as this can significantly impact your ranking in search engine results. Look for features such as schema markup, fast loading times, and clean code.

6. Consider Performance: A slow-loading website can drive potential clients away. Look for themes that prioritize performance and optimize loading times. This will not only improve user experience but also boost your SEO rankings.

7. Prioritize User-Friendliness: A user-friendly interface is vital for freelancers who want to easily update and manage their websites without relying on developers. Look for themes with intuitive builders and backend interfaces that require little to no coding knowledge.

By following these tips, you can choose the best freelance WordPress theme that aligns with your goals, showcases your skills, and helps you stand out in the gig economy.

Conclusion

In the gig economy, standing out from the competition is crucial for freelancers looking to attract clients and build a successful career. By choosing the right WordPress theme, you can showcase your skills and create a professional online presence that captures clients’ attention. Whether you opt for Ultra, Divi, or Astra, these top freelance WordPress themes offer the customization options, stunning designs, and user-friendly interfaces necessary for success. With their help, you can elevate your freelance career and make a lasting impression on potential clients in the gig economy.

Key Takeaways: Stand Out in the Gig Economy with the Best Freelance WordPress Themes

  • Choose a WordPress theme that reflects your personal brand and sets you apart from other freelancers.
  • Look for themes that offer a wide range of customization options to tailor your website to your specific needs.
  • Opt for responsive themes to ensure your website looks great and functions properly on all devices.
  • Consider themes that are SEO-friendly to help improve your website’s visibility in search engine results.
  • Don’t forget to check for good customer support and regular updates for your chosen WordPress theme.

Frequently Asked Questions

In today’s gig economy, standing out as a freelancer is crucial. Using the right WordPress theme can help you showcase your skills and impress potential clients. In this article, we unveil the best freelance WordPress themes that will help you shine in the gig economy.

1. What are the key features to look for in a freelance WordPress theme?

When choosing a freelance WordPress theme, look for features that will enhance your online portfolio, such as a clean and professional design that highlights your work. It should also have responsive design capabilities to ensure your website looks great on any device. Additionally, prioritize themes with customization options, SEO optimization, and support for plugins that can enhance your website’s functionality.

Having a theme that integrates seamlessly with popular freelancing platforms, such as Upwork or Freelancer, can also be beneficial. Consider themes with built-in contact forms, testimonials, and project showcases to make it easy for potential clients to get in touch and see the quality of your work.

2. Can I find a freelance WordPress theme that is beginner-friendly?

Absolutely! Many freelance WordPress themes are designed with beginners in mind. Look for themes that offer easy setup and customization options, even for those without coding knowledge. Drag-and-drop builders and pre-designed templates can help simplify the process further.

Additionally, choose a theme that comes with detailed documentation and excellent customer support to assist you if you run into any issues. Remember, even as a beginner, you can create a professional-looking website with the right theme and a bit of creativity.

3. Are there any WordPress themes specifically designed for freelance writers?

Yes, there are WordPress themes tailored specifically for freelance writers. These themes often feature clean and minimalist designs, which prioritize showcasing your writing samples and blog posts. Look for themes that offer easy integration with popular writing platforms like Medium or blogging plugins like WordPress’ own Gutenberg.

Other important features to consider include typography options, readability enhancements, and support for creating an author bio. These elements will help you establish your credibility and attract clients who value your writing skills.

4. Can I create an online store using a freelance WordPress theme?

Definitely! Many freelance WordPress themes offer e-commerce capabilities, allowing you to create an online store and sell your products or services. Look for themes that are compatible with popular e-commerce plugins, such as WooCommerce. These themes will often have built-in shop templates and customizable product pages.

Ensure the theme has a secure payment gateway integration, provides options for product categorization, and supports inventory management features. With the right freelance WordPress theme, you can not only showcase your skills but also generate revenue through your online store.

5. How can I optimize my freelance WordPress theme for search engines?

Optimizing your freelance WordPress theme for search engines is important to improve your website’s visibility. Start by choosing a theme that is designed with SEO best practices in mind, such as clean code and fast-loading pages. Look for themes that are mobile-friendly, as having a responsive design is crucial for search engine optimization.

Additionally, ensure your theme supports SEO plugins, such as Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack, which can help you optimize your content and meta tags. Focus on creating high-quality, keyword-rich content and follow on-page SEO techniques, such as using descriptive headlines and incorporating internal and external links. By optimizing your freelance WordPress theme, you can increase your chances of being discovered by potential clients.

Summary

Ready to boost your freelance career with WordPress? Check out these awesome themes!

Choose a theme that matches your style and showcases your skills.

These themes are user-friendly, customizable, and designed to help you stand out in the gig economy.

With these WordPress themes, you can create a professional and stunning website to impress clients.

So, what are you waiting for? Step up your freelancing game and get noticed today!

Check out these WooCommerce and EDD WordPress Plugins!

Top 9 Freelancer Marketplace Themes and Plugins for WordPress

Freelance services marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr have grown to be a very popular business model among website and platform owners because they provide a convenient, dependable, and simple way to access worldwide freelance skills. The demand for freelance services has grown significantly over the last ten years, and it is anticipated that this trend will continue. By 2030, it is expected that freelancers would make up as much as 80% of the global workforce due to this development.

Hundreds of millions of freelancers with expertise in many fields and categories are accessible through these websites. There is always a Freelancer available to be hired, so you may practically discover a solution for whatever kind of concept you have. These websites assist millions of users every day in finding acceptable employment opportunities, which generates enormous profits for its owners. Prior to today, freelancing was only considered to be a secondary source of income.

What is the difference of using between a Theme and Plugin?

WordPress themes are made to drastically alter the appearance of your website. This comprises the overall aesthetic of the website, including the design, layout, colors, and navigation. One theme can be active on your WordPress site at a time, but you can use as many plugins as you like.

Plugins are designed to offer new features and functionalities, whereas themes change the appearance of your website. In plainer terms, plugins affect what your site can do, whereas themes affect how it looks. Because there are solutions for almost any functionality you can think of, plugins can’t be as simply explained.

It’s usually simple to determine whether you should look for a theme or a plugin. A new theme is what you need if you want to alter the appearance and organization of your website. On the other hand, plugins are often your best option if you require a specific feature.

But what should you do if you ever find yourself in a scenario similar to the ones we just discussed? You have a decision to make if what you require may theoretically be fulfilled by either a theme or a plugin.

Fortunately, this decision is typically quite straightforward. Themes have a more significant overall impact on your website, and changing them can be a chore that you won’t want to go through too frequently. In order to choose your theme wisely, focus more on the style and layout you want than the functionality it offers. Then, you may use plugins to add any extra functionality you need.

So basically, a good way to go is to use a plugin, instead of a theme, so you can focus with the functionality the plugin will offer, instead of using a theme that locks you down to a layout that you might not want to use.

Without further ado, here to give you the top 10 freelancer marketplace plugin for WordPress in 2023:

Freelancer Marketplace Plugin 

This Freelancer Marketplace plugin will help you build a freelancer marketplace in WordPress for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads webstores. This plugin will be your starting point to start selling Freelancer Services via your WordPress webstore using the ultimate Freelancer Marketplace Plugin.

Freelancer Marketplace Plugin will transform your Easy Digital Downloads store into a freelancer marketplace. It allows customers to submit projects and freelancers to find and be hired for them. The plugin includes a bidding system, workflows for file uploads, messaging, and various other features to operate a freelancer marketplace.

EDD Sell Services 

EDD Sell Services is a plugin for WordPress that adds features to the Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) plugin. Users can produce and market services in addition to digital goods using this plugin. Users of the plugin can create a page for listing services, receive money for services, and handle service orders.

In essence, it gives users the ability to produce and market services in addition to digital goods. A service listing page, the capability to collect payments for services, and tools for handling service orders are just a few of the capabilities offered by the plugin. Users can increase the selection of goods and services they provide on their WordPress website with EDD Sell Services, which makes it simpler to increase revenue.

Private Workrooms 

Instead of relying on third-party systems, a business owner or freelancer can now easily and quickly receive payments online from their website. a WordPress plugin that gets you up and running quickly and easily. Getting work done and getting paid has never been easier. The fact that you have complete control over everything also contributes to how comfortable the entire process is. You and other proprietors of service-shopping websites were kept in mind when developing the Private Workrooms plugin.

The free version of the plugin allows you and your client to complete each stage of selling services and obtaining payment, but the PRO edition comes with many improvements and extra benefits.

Taskbot 

To advertise services and gigs on the Freelancer marketplace, a TaskBot WordPress plugin is employed. Vendors and customers could easily create their profiles and register using this method. Sellers who give gigs or services can publicize a task and take online orders. It has been thoughtfully designed to satisfy the requirements of those who are interested in starting sellers’ marketplaces or other projects of a similar nature.

You may always make your own with Taskbot for WordPress. You may create an online marketplace to connect job searchers with independent contractors with this premium WooCommerce plugin. Its powerhouse is Elementor.

WP Job Manager 

WP Job Manager is a freemium plugin for job boards. And for the majority of individuals, it works. Additionally, you can buy high-end add-ons to expand its functionalities. Shortcode is mostly used by this plugin. Jobs, expiration dates, and many other well-known job board characteristics can all be listed.

For visitors and registered users, WP Job Manager provides a few forms, although their features are constrained. The forms won’t draw much attention but they’re fine for basic use.

The employer dashboard of WP Job Manager is one intriguing feature. Users that are logged in can manage all of their job ads and information from this single location. It is among the top WordPress job manager plugins because of its feature.

WP Jobster

Another WordPress theme for micro jobs is Jobster, which could be an excellent choice if you want to start your own WordPress-based Fiverr. The website appears fantastic out of the box because the theme has a current style. However, in addition to having a Jobster-like appearance and feel, it is brimming with practical marketplace features like service requests, messages, a notification system, support for many currencies, etc.

By establishing commissions depending on the user status and/or total transaction value, Jobster enables you to monetize your micro jobs marketplace. Along with PayPal, Stripe, and bank payments, the theme offers tens of fully integrated payment gateways that make it simple to process and accept payments on your site.

FreelanceEngine

A strong project bidding-based theme for freelance websites is called FreelanceEngine. The theme’s layout is simple and content-focused. It wisely steers clear of minor graphic tricks for a positive user experience. Additionally, this theme is pretty quick and responsive. The front and back ends are both properly implemented, giving you the same performance response on mobile and PC.

The dashboard, planning page, settings panel, and job posting modules that come with the theme will help you build a successful marketplace portal once you’ve installed it. You may receive payments on the move thanks to Freelance Engine’s integration with a number of payment channels. The available payment gateways are Stripe, 2Checkout, and PayPal, among others. You can submit tasks here, find freelancers to work on them, and even register as a freelancer by creating a profile.

HivePress

Using the HvePress free WordPress listing and directory plugin, beginners can quickly build and launch their service listing or company directory website. If you like, you may even monetize the website by charging for listings on your directory website.

You may simply expand the main functionality with the plugin’s free and paid extensions. You can build real estate, service marketplaces, job boards, business directories, and other listing and directory sites using HivePress.

There is a free ListingHive theme for building directories, a RentalHive theme for building booking sites, and the ExpertHive theme is an excellent complement for building on-demand marketplaces like TaskRabbit. There is a TaskHive theme for a freelance marketplace like Fiverr, and JobHive is a terrific theme for a job board website.

Workreap

Workreap is an intriguing WordPress theme for a freelance marketplace with top-notch coding. It has been carefully planned and created to meet the needs of those who are interested in developing freelance marketplaces or other comparable ventures. The design is cutting-edge, but it also places a strong emphasis on usability, visual hierarchy, and aesthetics to make it simple for people to navigate.

One of the top WordPress themes available for freelancing marketplaces and job boards is called Workreap. It offers project postings, project bidding, the ability to sell services, listings for employers and freelancers, and could be an excellent option for creating a freelance market place.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Freelancer Marketplace Solution

It will never be easy to start your own Freelancer marketplace with WordPress without the right resources and software, to begin with. You may have thought it would be difficult today to create your own online marketplace for freelance services, but what you really need is to be completely prepared and ready with the right tool, skills, and knowledge.

That is why we recommend you to check the Freelancer Marketplace plugin. This plugin will help you build a freelancer marketplace for Woocommerce and Easy Digital Downloads. This plugin offers a comprehensive collection of settings and configurations to give you total control over your own freelancer marketplace, allowing you to configure it any way you want. This will be your starting point in creating your dream freelancer marketplace using the ultimate freelancer marketplace solution.

Just make sure that these features are well integrated and incorporated on your Freelance Marketplace, as well as the correct marketing and management, your marketplace will soon be up and running together with many clients and freelancers working with you.

How to Select a Freelancer Marketplace Plugin for WordPress

Introduction

Freelance services have expanded exponentially in the past decade and are projected to increase further in the coming years. With such growth, it is predicted that freelancers will account for as much as 80% of the entire workforce worldwide by 2030. The so-called “gig economy” is not just another buzzword anymore. With 57.3 million freelancers in the US alone (which makes around 36% of the total country’s workforce), there is no denying the fact that it is now the reality we live in.

These online professional services marketplaces serve as mediators between employers and workers to help them establish business relationships with each other. Each day, these websites help millions of their users find suitable jobs or staff, thereby earning their owners tremendous income. Freelance work, previously seen as pure side gigs and extra jobs, has now become a big job choice.

Using a WordPress Freelancer Marketplace Plugin

When you want to optimize your Freelance Marketplace’s strengths and functionality, using a WordPress Plugin is the perfect way to do that. Below are some of the reasons why you should use WordPress Freelance Marketplace Plugin to build your own Platform for Freelancer.

  • Freelance Marketplace Plugins are specifically designed and built to meet the needs of people interested in creating a freelance marketplace or other related ventures, after extensive study. Therefore, providing you with a Freelance Platform with the best framework possible would include all the necessary features and capabilities.
  • There is a rich eco-system available with WordPress plugins and codes that can help you develop and customize your WordPress Freelance Marketplace in whatever way you wish.
  • WordPress plugins have the potential to help you focus more on SEO and content marketing. They are two really effective tactics that will in no time draw clients and visitors to your website.
  • Finally, it wouldn’t be a problem with WordPress integrating with other tools and plugins. If required, you can use multiple WordPress solutions altogether to help you develop and automate your website on the Freelance Services Marketplace.

How to Find a Suitable WordPress Plugin for a Freelancer Marketplace

You’ll need to study and compare what plugins are better suited for your WordPress website. Below are several parameters that could be used:

  • Design: You need to get the template tested. A Freelancer Marketplace website uses many complex workflows, which is why it is critical that the plugin offers a great design and user-friendly features.
  • Payment Gateways: For a freelancer marketplace the processing of payments is crucial. It’s not really a problem, to begin with but later you do need a solution to essentially automate all payments. Therefore you will need to test which payment gateways are supported and you can use your WordPress plugin to enforce this. However, bear in mind, many payment gateways only allow businesses in some countries and many businesses in other countries than the US and Western Europe still have trouble getting accepted by other payment gateways.
  • Scalability: You’ll need to test the plugin’s backend structure in terms of technical scalability but also administrative ease here. It is vital that the backend has all the information at hand so that the website operator can easily find out what is going on and have all the details at hand in case of conflicts or demands for refunds.
  • Eco-System: Does the plugin come with an ecosystem of other great plugins, which can be easily added later in a cost-effective way? Here you want to start with a simple configuration to test your idea first but then you want to have access to a rich ecosystem with other plugins where you can easily add additional functionality to make your platform very awesome and where you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. So, you can verify whether your Freelancer Marketplace plugins are compatible with other applications or plugins.
  • Familiarity: You may also need to bear in mind that it is easier to find cost-effective developers for technical assistance when choosing a plugin that is compatible with other applications such as WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads because they have already worked on similar projects.

Must-have Features of an Excellent Freelancer Marketplace

In my opinion, if you want a perfect freelance marketplace, it must have the following features available:

1. Easy Onboarding Process – The platform must also offer a quick and easy onboarding process that will benefit both the customer and freelancer. The best feature for this one is that the customer can hire the freelancer right on his profile, or right on the Freelancer List.

2. Freelancer List – Customers must easily locate each of the available Freelancers, along with their profiles to check and see whether they fit the criteria that the customer is looking for.

3. Excellent Bidding Process with the option to Create Project Milestones – It is a must-have for a Freelancer Marketplace to have an excellent bidding flow and process. It must contain necessary and clear information about the Freelancer’s Bid, and also the option to create project Milestones(either by the Customer or the Freelancer).

4. Rating Procedure – The platform should enable the parties to rate each other depending on their performance as a party involved in the project.

5. Social Login – Since many people will register to your platform, we must give them an easy and quick registration process, by enabling them to register using their Social Accounts.

6. Manage Disputes and Settlements among the Parties – Different problems, issues and misunderstandings may arise during Project Execution among the parties, so because of that, there must be a way for the parties to report any disputes to the Site Administrators. They should have the capacity to submit disputes or claims against the party and the whole process needs to be managed.

7. Ability to scale up the Freelancer Marketplace – Besides offering Freelance Services to your customer, it is a great strategy if you are able to offer other products or services right on your Freelancer Marketplace. You can either sell digital downloads, website themes and designs, documents, and others. There’s always an opportunity to let more revenue flow in so we don’t want to waste it.

8. Payment Gateways – Freelancer Marketplace must have the ability to collect payments early on and hold them back until the projects are closed. Preferably, customers can pay with different payment methods such as Credit Cards, PayPal Balance and many more options.

These are just a few suggestions I have in mind if we are to talk about an efficient and effective Freelance Marketplace platform to service customers. Of course, there would be a lot more, but I hope you keep in mind these important features.

In order to achieve the above features on your Freelancer Marketplace Platform. You might want to check out this Freelancer Marketplace Plugin for WordPress.This plugin will help you build a freelancer marketplace for WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads. It also offers a comprehensive collection of settings and configurations to give you total control over your own freelancer marketplace, allowing you to configure it any way you want.

Conclusion: Developing a Freelance Marketplace is not a problem when you have the perfect solution

It will never be easy to start your own Freelancer marketplace with WordPress without the right resources and software, to begin with. You may have thought it would be difficult today to create your own online marketplace for freelance services, but what you really need is to be completely prepared and ready with the right tool, skills, and knowledge.

Just make sure that these features are well integrated and incorporated on your Freelance Marketplace, as well as the correct marketing and management, your marketplace will soon be up and running together with many clients and freelancers working with you.

How to Create a Freelancer Marketplace Platform using WordPress?

Freelance Services Marketplace like Upwork and Fiverr, offering a convenient, reliable, and easy way to access global freelance talents, has become a very popular business model among website and platform owners. These websites offer access to hundreds of millions of freelancers who are experts in different skills and categories. You can literally find a solution to any kind of idea you have; there is always a Freelancer waiting to be hired. 

These online marketplaces for freelance services act as a mediator between employers and employees helping them to build business relationships with each other. Every day these platforms help millions of their users to find suitable work or workers, giving huge profits to their owners. Previously considered as mere side gigs and extra jobs, freelance work has now become a major employment option.

The Growth of the Gig Economy and Freelancing

Freelance Services has grown immensely over the past decade and is expected to further increase in the coming years. With such growth, it is predicted that freelancers will account for as much as 80% of the entire workforce worldwide by 2030. With 57.3 million freelancers in the US alone (which makes around 36% of the total country’s workforce), there is no denying the fact that it is now the reality we live in.

Source: World of Freelancers

The above illustration shows the actual growth and statistics of Freelancing in America. So in summary, here are the top reasons why people prefer working as Freelancers:

  • Open for more opportunities – a lot of people are choosing to spend more time working in the Freelancing field since they believe it offers way more opportunities.
  • Balanced lifestyle – working remotely also enables people to manage and balance their lifestyles well.
  • Values skills and training – remote jobs actually value a person’s skills and training over formal education.
  • Offers future growth – people started to be more optimistic about their future in the Freelancing field.
  • Flexible working hours – people preferred working remotely because it gives them flexible working hours.
  • Tons of helpful resources and guides – there’s a huge repository of documents, guides and help as almost everything can be looked upon the web which makes working easy.
  • Internationalization –  customers can access a huge talent pool from different parts of the world.
  • Requires specialty – huge demand for specialists as some tasks requires in-depth knowledge to work with.

Yet, despite a large number of existing freelance online platforms, none of them are absolutely perfect and can cater and offer a wide span of features and opportunities. That represents an opportunity for website owners to join in and develop a freelance marketplace that can close the existing gaps and build a better platform.

Why using WordPress?

If you are to build your Freelance Marketplace, why not use WordPress? WordPress has become more than just excellent content management tools and makes it quite affordable to start any website. Various plugins offer endless possibilities to enlarge their applications for website creation. Moreover, it is a great content management tool and you will need to work on getting traffic through a great web presence and SEO.

WordPress

Below are some very important reasons as to why you should consider using WordPress to build your Freelancer Marketplace Platform:

  • Open-Source Software – WordPress is freely available online as an open-source website creation tool written in PHP. 
  • Highly Customizable and Flexible –  WordPress meets the demands of its mass of users with a flexible programming framework. This allows designers and developers to create and modify various layouts and applications. 
  • Rich Eco-System of WordPress Plugins and Extensions – There is a rich Eco-system of WordPress plugins and codes available that can help you improve and optimize your WordPress Freelance Marketplace in any way you want. There are many WordPress Freelance Marketplace Plugin you can use for the job.
  • SEO Optimization – Several WordPress Plugins are offered to optimize your Website for Search Engines and content marketing more.
  • Many Freelancers and Programmers know WordPress – Many Freelancers and PHP programmers are familiar with WordPress, the same goes for many virtual assistants, content marketers and other people you will need to hire to operate and maintain your website.

Also, you can have a look at the article Why creating a Freelancer Marketplace with WordPress. It could help you a lot to decide a better platform to use for your Freelance Marketplace.

13 Steps to get you started in Building your Freelancer Marketplace

Without further ado, let’s just straight to the steps you know that will help you build an excellent Freelancer Marketplace Platform using WordPress. Here are as follows:

(1) Choose a Catchy Domain Name

A domain name is the foundation of your website. It’s how your website visitors navigate to your site, and it plays a role in how people discover you online. It’s often the first impression that potential visitors get of you and your website as well—so registering the best domain name possible is important.

A great domain name is a concise, easy to type, and memorable URL that reflects your brand or your website’s subject matter. Avoid using hyphens, strings of numbers, or unnecessary words to make it easy for your visitors to remember and find your website. Remember: A great domain name is one that your visitors can type correctly on their first try.

You can use GoDaddy or NameCheap to look for and buy your chosen Domain Name.

(2) Get a Minimum VPS or a Cloud VPS Hosting Account

A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet.

We strongly suggest that you get either a VPS or a Cloud VPS Hosting Account. VPS hosting is one of the most popular hosting services you can choose for your website. It uses virtualization technology to provide you with dedicated (private) resources on a server with multiple users. While Cloud VPS hosting is a great option for website owners who want a scalable and high performing host behind because the resources on Cloud VPS are spread out amongst a bunch of different physical machines. This increases the power of your server whenever you’d like to meet varying traffic needs.

Bluehost is an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider and one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They know WordPress inside out and have the most beginner-friendly WordPress installation process.

(3) Research your Market Niche and Competitors

In building your Freelance Services Marketplace, you should decide whether to create a Generalist Freelancer Marketplace(offer talents in every possible category) or a Specialized Freelancer Marketplace(offer selected talents that have a specific set of skills). 

Of course, there will be a lot of competitors in either category. So the next step would be to look for your market competitors and find out what they do best in their services and also where and what they lack. This is to give you a clear vision of what to do and improve on your platform and therefore steer clear of your competitors in the long run.

(4) Define your Unique Selling Proposition or USP

USP is a factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality or the first-ever product of its kind. A USP could be thought of as “what you have that competitors don’t.” A successful USP promises a clearly articulated benefit to consumers, offers them something that competitive products can’t or don’t offer, and is compelling enough to attract new customers.

At this point, you should have come up, decided and defined your own USP. Do you think your platform can excel among tons of your large platform competitors? What features your platform has that makes it stand out among the rest? Can your platform do it better? Would it offer a more user-friendly, excellent and smooth project execution and process?

Users are overwhelmed with options, and they want to quickly understand what makes one platform different than another. Knowing the right way to position yourself and the website can mean the difference between standing out and blending in.

(5) Install WordPress

Next, would be to install WordPress on your website. Fortunately, this is free to use and download! WordPress is well-known for its ease of installation. Under most circumstances, installing WordPress is a very simple process and takes less than five minutes to complete.

If you are looking for a summary on How to install WordPress manually, here it is:

  • Download the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org
  • Unzip the file and upload it to the public_html (or similar) directory
  • Create MySQL Database and User
  • Configure the wp-config.php file.
  • Run the WordPress install

(6) Install Freelancer Marketplace Plugin and Easy Digital Downloads

After installing WordPress on your website, the next thing is to install and configure Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) on your WordPress website. You can download it right on your WordPress Dashboard, moreover, it is also a free plugin! 

EDD was primarily built to market digital products, compared with WooCommerce which is more applicable in selling physical products. It is also becoming one of the largest marketplaces for official and third-party extensions and add-ons.

Starting your own Freelancer Marketplace with WordPress would never be easy without the right tools and software, to begin with. To help you with that, you can use the WordPress Freelance Marketplace Plugin for WordPress.

This Freelancer Marketplace Plugin will help you build a freelancer marketplace for WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads. It offers a comprehensive collection of settings and configurations to give you total control over your own freelancer marketplace. This will be your starting point in creating your dream freelancer marketplace using the ultimate freelancer marketplace solution.

(7) Get a transactional email delivery service such as Sendgrid or Mailgun

Since the Freelancer Marketplace Plugin has tons of built-in emails to be sent out to different users every time an action has been made, therefore, you will surely need the help of a third-party transactional email delivery service. Why? When you succesfully onboard many users in your platform, they will be tons of emails that will be sent out to each one of them and this will definitely slow down your process, worse, some of these users won’t even receive the email. To maintain a fast and stable page speed with this plugin, we advise you to use an external email service such as SendGrid or Mailgun.

(8) Configure and Customize your website

After having the above tools and plugins installed, you might need to configure and customize your Easy Digital Downloads WordPress website any way you want. Using the Freelancer Marketplace Plugin, you will have tons of pages you can use, setting configurations to customize, features and functions to better present your platform and many others.

(9) Install Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most popular digital analytics software. It is Google’s free web analytics service that allows you to analyze in-depth detail about the visitors on your website. Google Analytics is a very important digital marketing tool but seriously underused by most businesses. It allows you to measure the results of individual campaigns in real-time, compare the data to previous periods, and so much more.

You can simply install GA Google Analytics Plugin on your website, or use the built-in Google Analytics Tracker of any plugin that you are currently using, if available. Then, visit the Google Analytics website to signup and finish the configuration.

If you want to see which channels your visitors are coming from, your conversion tracking, customer engagement statistics, and others – this is the perfect tool for you!

(10) Get a Mailchimp Account

In order to send Email Newsletters or even Email Education Series to your platform users, MailChimp would be one of the best tools to use for the process. The purpose of email newsletters and series is to give those on your contact list updates pertaining to your platform, products, and services. This is an excellent way to keep in touch and maintain a good connection with your platform users.

To help you with the job, you can get a MailChimp Account and integrate it with your website using the Mailchimp for WordPress Plugin. To simplify this process, below are the steps to connect your WordPress website to Mailchimp.

  • To connect MailChimp to your WordPress site, the first thing you will need is a MailChimp account.
  • Then, install the Mailchimp for WordPress Plugin on your WordPress website.
  • Next, you’ll need to connect your MailChimp account to the plugin. To do this, you’ll need to get your API key from MailChimp and paste it within the plugin.
  • The first thing you need to do in your MailChimp account is set up an email list. On your MailChimp dashboard, click on ‘Create A List’ button.
  • MailChimp comes with a built-in basic subscription form. The next step would be to create a signup form to put on your WordPress site.
  • Put the Signup Form anywhere on your website, either using a shortcode, widget or a third-party plugin.

If these steps are still a bit confusing to you, simply look on the web the complete steps on how to integrate and connect your Mailchimp Account to your WordPress website.

(11) Setup Social Media Channels

Social media has become an integral part of today’s marketing landscape. It is one of the best ways to connect with people who already love your platform, as well as reaching those who haven’t heard of it yet. Creating an account for different Social Media Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube remains a very great way to establish your brand and build an audience. 

Keep in mind, depending on your target market, there will be different social networks of relevance. E.g. management professionals you most likely find on LinkedIn, developers there are many on Twitter and Youtube, etc. Try to figure out which social media networks your target audience is most active and these should be the social media channels to focus on.

(12) Reach out to partners who like to post first projects on your marketplace

Now, you have your Freelancer Marketplace with WordPress all set up and configured. The next important step is finding and inviting prospective customers and freelancers to onboard on your platform. The first thing you can do is build a list of companies, agencies, and even individual website owners that would most likely be in need of freelancing services. 

Simply by using Gmail, Mailchimp, or any other Email Services Tool you prefer, you can send them out an invitation asking them to check out your Freelance Services Platform, and if they are interested, they can even post their own projects in which they needed help with.

(13) Market the marketplace to Customers and Freelancers

Once your Freelancer Marketplace has been launched, doing promotional activities is important in gaining the attention of future customers and freelancers. Below are a few strategies you can try to promote your platform:

  • Content Writing / Guest Blog – Content marketing is a very useful way of introducing your Freelance Marketplace to prospective users. This involves using various types of relevant content in order to present your platform and it’s features and functions. It’s affordable and incredibly effective when done right.
  • SEO optimization on your landing pages Another important consideration when marketing a website is SEO. Investing time in SEO will help potential customers and freelancers find your platform through organic search. Doing keyword research can help you find the proper keywords to use on your landing and blog pages.
  • Email Marketing – One goal of your marketing strategy should be to build up an email marketing list. An email marketing list can become a very effective tool for communicating with your audience and incentivize them to come back to revisit your platform.
  • Paid Advertisements – if possible (FB Ads, Google Adwords)
  • Join forums, social media groups and interact with people on your same niche, to get backlinks and etc.

Opportunity in Niche Freelance Marketplace

Since there are many significant marketplaces for freelance services out there that are difficult to compete with, what you might want to do is to focus on a select niche segment where you feel it’s challenging to identify suitable talent pools. Here you could create an edge by leveraging your expertise and network in the best possible way.

It is without a doubt that a freelancer marketplace business model is extremely scalable and can be applied to various business types and domains. That is why one good opportunity is to build a niche marketplace where you can specialize or even vet freelancers for certain tasks that could be an attractive model to various customers. Another good strategy is that you can have the opportunity to better monetize your digital product marketplace and earn more revenue by selling digital products and offering freelancing services at the same time.

Conclusion: Totally ready on your Freelance Services Marketplace journey

You might have thought that building your own online marketplace for freelance services in today’s very competitive eCommerce field would be impossible for you, well it won’t. What we need is to be fully equipped and ready with all this knowledge and strategies that would give us an edge among thousands of our marketplace competitors out there.

Just make sure to apply and implement these features well on your Freelance Marketplace, as well as the proper marketing and management, soon your marketplace would be up and running, along with many customers and freelancers working with you.

Why creating a Freelancer Marketplace with WordPress?

WordPress is a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that can cater to any type of business you intend to build. Do the research and you’ll be amazed at WordPress’ popularity among different types of websites and online businesses currently using it as their platform. The seemingly endless possibilities for creativity with WordPress never cease to amaze entrepreneurs and business owners. With the right combination of knowledge, expertise, plugins, and themes, there’s not a lot you can’t do with WordPress – from simple blogs to eCommerce stores, Online Marketplaces to custom web applications and many more!

Creating a freelancer marketplace is hence totally a thing you can do in WordPress. It allows you to make money by sharing your online marketplace platform. Due to low overhead costs, it has become a popular online business idea.
In no small measure, it became possible due to the numerous freelance marketplaces. Among the numerous freelancers, every client will definitely find the one that suits their demand regarding the skills, rate, and pricing. And even being located on different sides of the globe will no longer prevent them from cooperation. The modern web offers numerous freelance platforms, and their number increases annually.

Traditionally, custom solutions would be nearly impossible for the average person to create a Freelancer Marketplace. But with WordPress, just about anyone could take a crack at the next big online marketplace for just a few hundred dollars and the labor involved.

Growth of the Global Freelancer Industry

Freelance services have grown immensely over the past decade and is expected to further increase in the coming years. With such growth, it is predicted that freelancers will account for as much as 80% of the entire workforce worldwide by 2030. The so-called “gig economy” is no longer just another buzzword. With 57.3 million freelancers in the US alone (which makes around 36% of the total country’s workforce), there is no denying the fact that it is now the reality we live in.

Source: Forbes

Also, based on Upwork’s Gig Economy Statistics, more than 1 in 3 (35%) American workers freelanced in 2018, totaling 56.7M freelancers, nearly 4M more than in 2014.

Source: Upwork

What is a Freelancer Marketplace Platform?

Freelancer marketplace is like a meeting ground where qualified and skilled freelancers from anywhere in the world can find work and get paid. It is an online platform where businesses can find and hire individual contractors to do some work remotely. They act as an intermediary providing a safe and convenient way to contract remote experts for one-time projects.

Freelance websites like Upwork, offering a convenient, reliable, and easy way to access global freelance talent, have become very popular among digital businesses.

Some of the top freelance services marketplace are:

Online freelance services marketplaces can vary depending on the type of work (one-time projects with fixed rates or ongoing hourly projects), services provided (engineering, design, copywriting, etc.), engagement models, geographical preferences, and so on.

Despite a large number of existing freelance online platforms, none of them are perfect. That represents an opportunity for a business to join in and develop a freelance marketplace that can close the existing gaps.

Why it’s still a good idea to start a Freelancer Marketplace?

You might think that starting your own Freelancer Marketplace at today’s eCommerce trend is no longer effective, taking into consideration a lot of website platform competitors that already excel in the web. But, you really don’t have to worry, because there are still reasons to why it is still a good idea to start a Freelancer Marketplace.

  1. There’s a good opportunity to start a freelancer marketplace for select niches. It is correct there already exist various freelancer marketplace out there, but what’s still missing are freelancer marketplaces that cater products and services for select niches. This could be a brilliant idea that can eventually lead you to start your own niche freelancer marketplace.
  2. Host a niche website that offers pre-vetted freelancers for certain tasks. This is a good way to attract clients and customers that prefers vetted freelancers to work for their projects, thus giving you more opportunity to start and work with a niche freelancer marketplace.
  3. While selling your digital products, there is still an opportunity for you to add a freelancing service on your website. This strategy will allow you to better monetize your digital product marketplace and earn more revenue by selling digital products and offering freelancing services at the same time.

Using a WordPress Freelance Marketplace Plugin

If you want to maximize the possibilities and features on your Freelance Marketplace, using a WordPress Plugin is the best way to do it. Below are some of the reasons as to why you should use WordPress Freelance Marketplace Plugin in creating your own Freelancer Platform.

  1. Freelance Marketplace Plugins are specifically designed and developed after thorough research to cater to the requirements of people interested in building a freelance marketplace or other similar projects. Thus, it will have all the important features and capabilities to present you a Freelance Platform with the best possible structure.
  2. There is a rich Eco-system of WordPress plugins and codes available which can help you improve and optimize your WordPress Freelance Marketplace in any way you want.
  3. WordPress Plugins have the capability to help you with focusing on SEO and content marketing more. These are two very important strategies that will attract customers and visitors on your website in no time.
  4. Lastly, with WordPress integrating with other solutions and plugins wouldn’t be a problem. You can use several WordPress solutions all together if necessary which can help you improve and optimize your Freelance Services Marketplace website.

How to create a simple Freelancer Marketplace in no time

Now, if you have decided to give a Freelancer Marketplace a go, here are the things you needed to do in order to start building one.

  • Choose your Domain Name

Picking a domain name is the first step in creating a website.

Your domain name, or URL, is what visitors will type into their browser’s address bar to access your site. You’re more likely to have increased traffic with a straightforward, easy-to-remember name. You can try GoDaddy and NameCheap to search and buy for available Domain Names.

  • Choose your Web Hosting Provider

To have your website available for people to visit, you need a server to host it. A reliable hosting company is vital because if you are always having issues, you will lose users. Bluehost is an excellent choice due to its customer service and reliability.

Here’s a list of some select web hosting providers that you can use:

  1. Kinsta
  2. WP Engine
  3. iPage
  4. HostGator Cloud
  5. BlueHost
  6. Iozoom

Web hosting providers are needed to keep your digital products eCommerce store online. Important here is to choose a web hosting provider not only for the price but also page speed, support, and additional services to ensure the website will not suffer any significant downtime.

  • Install WordPress

WordPress.com is a free, third-party website builder and host. It makes up 29% of the world’s CMS. WordPress has been around for more than a decade and billions of dollars of development have been put into its creation.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll be able to go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and log in with the username and password you chose.

You can actually choose any WordPress Theme and Plugin you prefer to use with your Freelancer Marketplace. The WordPress Theme only provides your website a startup look viable for a Freelancer platform. As for the Freelancer Plugin, there are also a number of plugin you can choose from to start with.

Conclusion: There’s an opportunity for Niche Freelancer Marketplaces

It is without a doubt that a freelancer marketplace business model is extremely scalable and can be applied to various business types and domains. That is why one good opportunity is to build a niche marketplace where you can specialize or even vet freelancers for certain tasks that could be an attractive model to various customers. Another good strategy is that you can have the opportunity to better monetize your digital product marketplace and earn more revenue by selling digital products and offering freelancing services at the same time.

Creating a freelancer website may let you feel intimidated by the amount of work ahead of you. But with the right tools, skills, and knowledge, you can afterward see your freelancer marketplace all up and running.

Freelancer Marketplace Plugin will help customers to build a freelancer marketplace leveraging WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads platform. It allows freelancers to find suitable projects, lets them bid by demonstrating their skills and expertise and for customers, to have an easy way to submit their products and find suitable freelancers.

The plugin was specially developed to help niche websites leveraging their network by offering freelance services to assist customers. As the plugin uses Easy Digital Downloads it can also be easily combined with selling digital products at the same time.