How would you attract Businesses to your marketplace?
Hey Guys,
I have recently been reading the chicken and egg problem with two sided marketplaces, and different solutions to solve this.
I want to start small with my marketplace uk based first and then grow from there.
any ideas on how i will find businesses that would want to hire Freelance developers/designers.
I have myself thought about creating landing pages, blogging, giveaways, simply building up a email list and then possibly conducting surveys and interviews to see if my ideas are correct?
As this is my first startup, and with all the info out there is this correct? Anyone recommend me a better way to do this.
i am not validating my idea here, I am simply trying to build up a list of potential Buyers(Clients).
Regards,
I run similar model in Poland.
They are dozens of companies searching for freelancers. The question, who will find them first. You or the others?
its more of a question on where to find em. but ye i like your way of thinking.
Another idea, would be to allow bloggers to write blogs for free on your website. What I’m thinking is a website like Medium where bloggers can write blogs for free, and maybe give , on the same website , the possibility for the bloggers to sell their skills as freelancers, and a way to monetize their writing skills. I like reading blogs on Medium, but now to read most of the content you need to subscribe and pay a subscription fee. I think there is space for a different website where the content is free, but it will still give exposure to the bloggers or freelancers, and a way to monetize their skills. It could be with advertising, or maybe a freemium model with a number of free articles available to read, as this will give users a reason to go back to the website, and bloggers will still be able to monetize their content.
I actually do like this Idea, to be honest. but there is a limited amount of freelancers who are going to write for free on the site, even if they can sell their own skills. Courses ebooks etc...
Maybe also add some high paying affiliate programs useful to businesses.
https://www.digitalfodder.com/high-paying-affiliate-programs/
Another possibility would be to focus on businesses, therefore a website like Medium, but where businesses can register their profile and blog, or just connect their company’s blog. Companies will have an interest in sharing their business information on a profile page and getting people to read their blogs as a way to get more business for the company. To monetize I guess you will still need to look at advertising from the companies, or leave it free initially, and once you manage to get many companies ask them to pay a Subscription fee.
I was thinking about this all day today. And I thought it is a great idea to start a publishing platform for freelancers and bloggers, but allow them to add affialite links them selves and then simply deducta commission from this. That way the readers dont get bothered with ads, or asked to pay for a subscription and both the author and myself get paid.
What do you think?
I think its a great way freelancers and business owners can come together on one platform, and simply share their stories. Medium is focused on too many, this was I believ some voices get lost on their platform.
Yes, I think it is a great idea! Readers can read for free and have a large selection of different blogs to read, and bloggers can get some money with the affiliate programs they want.
@gzebe thanks, this conversation has been one of the best convos I have had since i joined this community.
Good, keep me posted and good luck!
I think that as there are already successful websites where companies can hire freelancers online , you should focus on a different approach. For example a marketplace of local freelancers, where businesses can have a face to face meeting with them , or in the same country to avoid language barriers. Therefore a business based in the UK, Germany, France, could find freelancers based in the same country and speaking the same language. This obviously means that they could try to avoid paying your commission, so maybe use a subscription model where freelancers have to pay a monthly subscription to be added to the marketplace. And an advertising option where paying freelancers could advertise their services, and they will appear on the main page as featured ads.
the only issue is that Local Solo tried this and failed hard. Clients go to marketplaces to get look at affordability as well as security and quality freelancers.
Getting freelancers to register on another freelancing site is very easy. Just post once a week that I got order from this site and your post will be in the top Fb groups posts.
For getting more clients, you don't show they all freelancers will be vetted. Instead show this after they complete registration. And to clean the dirt, you can ask users to attach their Fiverr profile URL which will even help you in vetting them
ooh, this is a hard question man. I think it comes down to validating ur idea. Not by us but by ur customers. If they have a need you will actually be able to bring them in quite easily. If they dont have a need, it can be really rough
Ye I have been reading quite a lot. But if my competition exists does this not validate the fact that a freelance marketplace would work. ??
depends, if u are solving a problem that your competitors are not solving well.
You need something to offer them to bring them there. I guess you could make them really easy to bring in their postings from fiverr.com or other freelance marketplaces by offering a "sync" option, so that they would literally have to click one button to get started on your platform.
But what is your marketplace offering that other freelancer marketplaces don't? That's the real question. If it's a clone of fiverr or upwork, you would need to compete on price which is a race to the bottom.
Thank you for replying.
I am looking to build a freelance marketplace that offers flexible pricing on the memberships, such as 10% commission or 0% commission with a flat monthly fee.
To start off with I am thinking of just advertising towards developers / programmers. Not really intrested at the moment with gigs. even though what you said is a really good idea.
All freelancers would have to be vetted, and be a working freelance professional so we can bring talent on board.
In Regards to incentives, we would offer " Bring a client and earn 50% of their commission" So if they bring a client onboard instead of us taking 10% commission we would give the user who brought them on board a 50% commission on everything they spend on the marketplace for the next 6 or 12 months.
so for example if a clients spends £1,000 10% of this would be £100 the freelancer who bought them on board would get £50 and we would get £50.
but to do this would I need to use Fiverrs, or upworks API? Would this be allowed to simply poach their users?