Whether you’re a sole trader or a limited company, there comes a time when you’ll want to scale up your business.
While hiring out a team of people to help may not be possible on limited budgets, there is an alternative– hiring freelancers.
Freelancers are overall cheaper to hire than employees. You don’t need to provide them with holiday or sick pay, you don’t need to buy a computer for them to work on or the vast amounts of coffee they’re well known for drinking.
So what kind of things can you outsource to freelancers? We’ve put together a list of the most common tasks you can outsource.
Content writing
If you’ve got a website, it’s good practice to fill it with lots of useful and relevant content. This means pages of copy that aren’t just a few lines, regular blog posts, email newsletters, social media campaign posts and so on.
Don’t underestimate the power of the written word. Content can pull over traffic and increase sales so it’s certainly not something to overlook.
If you don’t have the time or the tools to take care of it yourself, hiring a freelancer is the next logical step.
SEO
It’s a mystery to many entrepreneurs, but most people know they need to get their website ranking in Google. Hiring a freelancer can help your website start to rank. They can teach you about good practices and what to avoid.
We’d recommend hiring someone to work on your website regularly because SEO requires constant maintenance to get it right. It’s not something you do once and leave.
Social media management
Social media is more important than ever. Every other business is on there and you probably should be too.
However, something a lot of business owners get wrong is posting nothing but sales pitches (into the void). A bit of sales is fine but nothing but sales is going to result in no followers, no traffic and no sales.
Social media is about connecting within your industry, giving your business a face and increasing your brand awareness.
Social media works best when it’s consistent, reactive, friendly and personable. The truth is, most people don’t have the time to dedicate to social media posting everyday – or at least good social media posting and strategies that will actually get results. Outsource an expert and get the most out of your social media accounts.
Personal assistant
If you’ve got a lot of phone calls and emails coming through and they’re all getting on top of you, you can hire someone to handle that. Virtual assistants, among many other responsibilities, will be able to deal with all calls and emails so your schedule is clearer and more organised.
Virtual assistants can cover a lot of different things including content writing, social media, email management, marketing and phone answering.
Ecommerce experts
If you’ve got an ecommerce website and are not sure how to manage things, you could get an expert who knows things like Shopify and WooCommerce inside out. They will know the best and most efficient ways to get you up and running. You could try it yourself but learning how to use it, and in the best way, will cost you valuable time.
Website design
While you can set up a simple website without too much money or expertise, if you require something more substantial or customised, then a web designer can help.
They’ll tailor your design to your business and branding. Some designers will also offer regular maintenance alongside, so there’s no need to hire someone in-house if your needs are easily met through a freelancer.
What tasks do you most want to outsource? Have you ever outsourced to a freelancer before? Please share your thoughts.