Where is the best place to find freelance website developers with affordable rates?
We are a design agency that has been in business for the past 8 years. We are based in VA and NC, but serve clients all over the US. When we first began and up until about 1 year ago, it was mainly my husband and myself doing all the work. Now we have added more team members and are looking for good quality people to have on our sub contract list. Primarily right now I'm looking for simple HTML/CSS developers. I've looked into using Elance/Odesk and also Peopleperhour.com, but really I just want to have a list of people to go through and pick from them the best fit for us to have on hand for later. The problem with Elance and places like that is that I do not have an actual project yet. I just want to connect with people for future reference. Any suggestions on where to find these people that would be quality at an affordable price?
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Mar 17, 2014
hi Mindy.
you can find what you are looking for here, at mosaicHub, or on LinkedIn, by just searching and connecting with people.
you can use oDesk (which you mentioned) to find potential developers.
what you should be looking for, is someone you can rely on and connect with, and not necessarily the "cheapest".
you need to check that the developer suites your needs, has good communication skills (with you especially), has good knowledge of the field in which he/she is hired (and not a beginner), has references, and generally someone you can trust.
for all that, you need to build and maintain a relationship with that person, meaning, finding, talking, checking, and working with him/her for the long term.
and so, by using services such oDesk, you can find your developer for the near project. and if he/she suites you, you will contact them for the next project, or use oDesk to find another freelance.
good luck with your projects ^_^
Mar 17, 2014
Rates are perhaps the least important aspect of finding a web developer you can work with on an ongoing basis. Ahead of rates are experience, trustworthiness, recommendations from other clients, timeliness, and expertise. A combination of those in a developer you might want to work with a second time are not likely to be the "best price," if by that, you mean "cheap."
Mar 17, 2014
Hi there Mindy, you can find freelance website developers here at mosaicHUB, LinkedIn and odesk.com.. =)
Mar 17, 2014
You can try www.freelancer.com as they have the largest network of software professionals on their site who freelance. You will need to post a project with your requirements and budget. you will receive a large number of responses from the freelancers on that site specifying what they can do for your project and specify the price. You can communicate with each individual freelancer and find out more about their services and then decide on which freelancer you wish to give the project to. Once you award the project to any particular freelancer, you will make the online payment. Only once they have completed their project they will be paid by freelancer.com website.
Note: Just make sure you dont sign up for any direct debits from the site. Look into the small print.
Alternately you can try the mosaicHUB.com,there a re a few experts on that site.
You can try Linkedin as there are numerous web developers registered.Go to the Experts tab on the website and you will notice the web developers there.
Try wix.com they offer a free subdomain and website but if you want your own domain then you have to pay a one time fee for it. They also construct websites. Email them with your requirements and they will do it for a fee.
Or vistaprint.com . I used vistaprint for my website its easy as there are templates built in , you need to add the substance/flesh for the site and in a day its done. They do charge for domain and monthly webhosting fees but they are economical. I am getting my second website from them. I also order most of my stationary and business products from them as I a, pleased with their quality. I have no dealing with Vistaprint except that I am a paying customer of them for the past 4 years.
Mar 18, 2014
You're on a website right now where you can find them! :) Better yet, you can test-drive a relationship with them on a small project first by purchasing a deal in our Marketplace. There are two deals on web development right now- it's worth checking out: www.mosaichub.com/marketplace
Mar 17, 2014
As long as you have a steady workflow it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to provide simple projects to new developers as you're going through your vetting process. I own a small software development company in Maryland and over the years my process has always involved introducing new developers to either mock projects that I've created to test skills and ability or small components of existing projects.
Whether your recruitment process includes Elance, Craigslist, local networking events, or even hosting your own tech meetups, it's almost impossible to identify a qualified candidate without some type of vetting process.
So, consider looking at the problem from a different angle and your current issue might disappear.
Hope this helps!
-Tim
Mar 17, 2014
Hey Mindy, well I use Warrior Forum and Digital point mostly, as I get good people from there and bulk work with fare rates.. You can try this place once..
There are 100 of webmaster forums and local sites..
Thanks
Avik
Mar 17, 2014
What would you consider to be a reasonable price? I am in Sweden, so I am a bit curious on the prices in the US.
However, I must agree with Ray Gulick on the definition of best price.
Mar 17, 2014
Greetings Mindy,
We actually partner up with various design firms in addition to providing an end-to-end solution for our own clients. We generally handle projects on an estimate basis, and we make ourselves available for questions during your estimate phase unlike the sites you pointed out. The reason we don't do hourly rate is that things could get out of hand. The best way is to define an agreed upon scope with your client and then subcontract the work with a profit in mind on your end. Not to mention, you get someone based here in the US and someone dedicated to your account. If you are interested in keeping us in mind. You can visit our site at volumesquared.com. Also, you can find out more about our client testimonials/recommendations by connecting with me on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/kapang/). Let me know if you have any questions for us as well. Best, Ka (pangATvolumesquaredDOTcom)
Mar 17, 2014
Hi, my name is Jonathan Kongolo, I live in Norway and I'm a IT student.. I'm a web developer but not a designer. I own a private company " Meta data development". I have many experience with html, css and more.
Mar 17, 2014
In my experience the best way to find good subcontractors is via your peers. That's how we've found most of our subcontracting gigs, and it works well for both the subcontractors and the main agency/firm. Reach out to other web developers via Google+ or LinkedIn and ask if they have anyone they can recommend. Make it clear you're not trying to steal away their secret sauce, but you just want a name of a resource they don't use full time and who they feel is competent. Pricing, however, is going to be a crapshoot -- but as a general rule of thumb if you want low rates you probably won't find them by asking the web shops with high prices.
Mar 17, 2014
I found adroitcoders.com through LI and are impressed with their rates and capabilities. I haven't had a project yet to use them on but I did have a chat with Lyza from the company on Skype. I'd recommend checking them out as they seem like a good fit for what you're after.
Mar 17, 2014
If you are going with freelancers, then you have to wait for their comfortable time for your project to complete and they dont have anything to loose other than a customer if they dont satisfy your expectations. But if you can hire a team of designers or make a strategic alliance with a company who can be your sub contract for a very long time with a reasonable costing, that would be more suitable for you.
I am a Business consultant from India, If you want such companies, feel free to contact me. I can help you out. You can ping me in skype dilip.akira
Mar 18, 2014
Thanks everyone for the responses! I agree with some of the comments below talking about not focusing on price. I connected with one developer a while back and almost wrote him off because of his quoted price per hour to me. However, he said he was a database specialist and this stuck out to me, along with the fact that after talking to him on the phone, I thought he would be a good person to work with. Well, I just started working with him for a project and am so glad I didn't write him off! He has been wonderful to work with and actually does it by flat rate and I can tell he is not going by the initial per hour rate he gave me. So I have learned it's certainly not about price, though if someone is similar to our rate in price then it's not going to work for us because we make no profit. It's finding that balance. Thanks for all the suggestions!!
Mar 21, 2014
Have you looked locally? It may be worth looking through local directories or joining networking groups to meet up a build a relationship with someone that you would like to work with. Why not do an internet search of local companies and try and get feedback on their work so that that you know you would be working with someone that will do a good job for you? Just a few ideas that might help.
Mar 21, 2014
I have a very reliable web developer who I use who may be interested in sub-contract work. He has been a developer for over 10 years and delivers quality work on a timely basis. PM me if you are interested.
Mar 24, 2014
Actually, I can help you. I own a software development company and we work with several organizations but do not charge the rates that go along with large development shops. Stay away from Odesk.............it will become a nightmare as it relates to development. Let me know if I can help you or if you would like to learn more.
Mar 25, 2014
There are many online companies who are providing online freelancing services. So it becomes hard for a client to choose the best among all of them. From my point of view safe freelancer are the best in providing affordable and best services for their clients. and their url is safefreelancer.com. Do not rush for the Elance, Odesk etc.
Mar 26, 2014
I would personally reach out in your local community to find resources like this. I found great Android and iOS developers for a few client projects recently doing this and the results were great.
I would also do a simple Google search for 'freelance web developers' or, if you are looking specifically for WordPress developers, 'freelance wordpress developers' and browse the results. Look at their work and testimonials. Make sure they have the skills. Their website should 'speak' to you. If you contacted them, then their website did it's job.
Best of luck. I hope connecting with the right people is a fun experience for you and your husband.
Mar 26, 2014
Mindy - sounds like you want to give a clear, specific brief to execute a design, rather than make allowances for 'creative developers' and coders. If my presumption is right, I would advise you to look a prototyping tool that you can use to quickly produce a mockup for a developer to implement/finish. Look at www.rapidmoon.com - its a web-based tool aimed at designers like yourselves and you do not need to know how to code to use it - it uses ready-made drag/drop components to create a prototype and it also generates clean html that you can export and send to a coder to finish. This way, (1) there is no confusion on what to do since there is already a design; (2) it minimises the to-and-fro that typically happens between design agencies and developers; (3) it can also save a heap of time/$. Good luck!