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Can You Make Money With Guru.Com? Review And Ultimate Guide

Guru.com Review

Thanks for joining me for my fully updated review and ultimate guide to Guru.com.

Are you looking for a platform that can provide you with regular freelance work?

If so then you may be considering using The Guru.com website to find reliable sources of income.

To help you with that I will be finding out all you need to know about the Guru.com platform to help you decide whether you should try it out yourself.

I will be focusing on the opportunities Guru.com offers freelancers looking for a reliable online income stream.

First however, let’s check out the legitimacy of the site. 



Is Guru.com Legit?

Guru.com is a legitimate site that helps people all across the United States and elsewhere to find work.

Guru.com caters to different skill sets, so, you can find work in accounting, marketing and more areas. Guru.com has a long track record in its sector and it’s proven itself as a reliable way of connecting people to rewarding positions.

The company was founded in 1998, just a few years after the internet became available to regular consumers and workers around the world. So, they’ve been in business for over 20 years.

Guru.com originally connected high-tech workers to short-term positions. As they gained a foothold in the market they expanded their offerings.

This freelance platform helps to connect employers and freelancers. Employers can post their job descriptions along with details on the type of remuneration offered.

Freelancers can post information on their skills and services, and as a freelancer you could be invited by an employer to submit a quote for your services. You’re also free to bid on any jobs that interest you, so you don’t have to wait to be invited to submit a quote.

The flexibility of the site is an indication that it’s legitimate. This flexibility indicates that it’s satisfying the needs of both freelancers and employers and that helps to make it sustainable.

Guru.com has different measures in place to protect you as a freelancer. You will learn about these in this review. This is also an indication of their legitimacy.

For example, their review system is used to ensure that employers who are interested in working with you can have fair and transparent feedback on the work that you’ve done.

Unfortunately it’s important to mention here that the review system can be misused in several ways. For example, a competitor could easily hire you to do a job without your knowledge that it’s them leaving the review. They could then give you a very bad review in order to drop your overall ratings.

The converse is also true. So, their rating system is not as transparent as it would seem. However, this doesn’t make Guru.com a scam.

Each employee is also required to agree to the scope of work, timeline and payment terms before you start working. This gives you a measure of protection and makes it less likely that you’ll be scammed whether you’re a freelancer or employer.

The platform has a system in place which lets employers deposit funds. So, freelancers can ensure that funds are available before they start the job.

Guru.com has a large user base. This also shows that the site is legitimate. They have over 3 million users. They also receive over a million visitors to their site every month.

The platform is initially free. So, with a Basic account you can send up to 10 proposals per month at no charge.

Whenever you complete a job, your payment will be deposited to your Guru.com account.

From there, you can transfer your cash to PayPal or other accounts. They don’t often have a problem with making payments in a prompt manner.

However, if you want to use Guru.com to its full potential you will need to consider their membership plans.

Guru.com Membership Plans

When you first sign up to Guru.com, you’ll get a a Basic membership. Your Basic membership is always free but its features are limited.

If you want more options in terms of the number of proposals that you can send per month and so on, you can select a paid membership.

However, even with a Basic membership you will still have to pay a job fee when you get a job. This is calculated on the value of the job. With a Basic account, you’ll also have to pay $4.95 for every skill test that you do.

Skill tests are an essential feature on the site. Whenever someone is about to hire a freelancer, they look at the proven skills that they have.

They will consider the inbuilt rating system on the site which includes skill tests. So if you’re planning to be on the site for a while to get multiple jobs, it’s worth the investment to just upgrade to a paid plan that allows you to save on these skill tests.

When you need more features, you can choose from their four paid memberships. These are the Basic+, Professional, Business and Executive plan.

The Basic+ plan costs $8.95 per month if you pay annually. If you pay monthly, the cost will be $11.95 per
month. It gives you 600 job bids per year.

Like the Basic plan, it attracts a job fee of 9%. Your job fee is a fee that’s charged on the invoice value of the job. So, for example, if the invoice on the job is $100 and the tier that you’re at as a freelancer dictates that your job fee rate is 9%, the job fee would be $9.

There are several options for paying the job fee. The person who is hiring you can pay all of it. They can choose to split the payment with you so that you pay a portion. You could also end up paying all of the fee.

The percentage that is charged for the job fee decreases as you move up to more expensive plans. With a Basic+ plan you’ll also get a search boost.

This search boost pushes your profile up in the search rankings, making it easier for employers who are interested in freelancers with your skills to find you when they do a search on the platform.

This plan also gives you access to the Q&A section so that you can improve your visibility by asking questions about any job that you’re interested in.

The Professional, Business and Executive plans go up by roughly $9 for each tier with the Executive plan costing $39.95 per month when you pay for the plan annually. However, all of these plans offer benefits that you won’t receive with the Basic+ plan.

For example, you have the option of using premium quotes with all of these plans. The premium quote highlights your quote in green, giving you a better chance of having your quote seen among all the others for a particular position.

These plans also let you roll over a portion of your bids to the next year. With the Basic+ plan, you’ll have to ensure that you use up all your bids within your subscription year or you’ll lose them.

The higher tiers also let you link to your website. So, you can showcase other services on your site and drive traffic to it from Guru.com.

How You Apply for Work

To apply for work on Guru.com, you’ll first need to create an account. You can either create a Basic account
or choose from one of the paid accounts.

You’ll need to be 18 or older to create an account on the platform. You’ll select your username and password and then complete your profile. Your profile should contain information on the services that you offer.

Since this is a sales page you should maximize the amount of interest that you can generate by including testimonials from people who loved using your services in the past. To help you further you should give details on your brand story.

Potential employers can find your profile by doing a search. You can also pay as mentioned earlier in this Guru.com review to have your profile rank higher in the search results.

If an employer is interested in you, they could invite you to provide them with a quote for the job that they have in mind. You don’t need to wait for someone to see your profile in that way as you can apply for jobs that are already posted.

So, you can navigate to the Menu and click on Find Jobs. Once there, you can enter keywords that are directly related to the skills you have or the services that you offer. The platform will provide you with information on current job listings that are related to your areas of interest.

Usually, you’ll make a bid based on how much you’re willing to work for overall. However, when you’re submitting your quote you can break down that figure to make it more attractive.

For example, if you estimate that a job will take you three months, you can provide a weekly figure for your bid, specifying that it is per week. Similarly, if you think that a job will only take a few hours, you can provide details on how much you expect to be paid per hour.

Whenever you’re submitting a quote, you usually have information on how many other people have also submitted quotes. That will give you an idea of how competitive it is.

One of the problems on this site is that sometimes the level of competition for some areas is very high. So there are a lot of people who are competing who drive down the price of a job. Those individuals might provide a different quality of service from you but the employer may choose them over you for different reasons.

If you have a Basic+ account or higher, your bids can be used for sales messages. So, along with submitting your quote, you can also choose to use some of your bids to send the client a message that makes your quote stand out even more.

What Are The Skill Tests At Guru.com?

Skills tests are an important part of the site. There are skill tests related to almost every skill that you could think of.

For example, if you’re providing translation services, there are skill tests related to that.

Similarly, if you’re a copywriter, there are also skill tests related to that area. Some skill tests, such as the Data Entry skill test, are relevant to freelancers in finance and a wide range of areas.

Your exact skill test score will not be shown on your profile, so potential employers will only know that you have passed the test.

When an employer looks at your profile, they look for the type of skill test that you passed. They want to know that you have proven that you can provide the type of service that they require.

So, for example, if two people have applied for a position and their bids are roughly the same and an employer sees that one applicant has passed two more skill tests than the other, they might be likely to choose the person who has shown that they have more skills via displaying the test logos.

It’s in your best interest to pass as many tests that are related to the skills that you offer as possible.

Guru.com Reviews

Guru.com has been around for a while and all that time it has proven that members can find work or qualified freelancers can get paid or make payments securely.

There are several freelancers who offer their services on the site and also seek other qualified freelancers to help them with the projects that they’re working on.

Members who do this appreciate the time that they can save with the platform. Many members like the fact that they can see who else bid on a project. This lets them know exactly who they’re up against.

They can also see who won the project. That gives them an idea of what the employer is looking for and this type of information helps them if they decide to bid on a project that’s offered by that person in the future.

Overall, users like the systems that Guru.com has in place. The platform makes it easy for them to find work that’s relevant to their skill set. Filters are in place to ensure that no one spends time scrolling through jobs that aren’t relevant to them.

They have secured payment methods and ideally this should result in speedy payments at all times. However, that’s not always the case.

Sometimes members experience technical issues or other problems and they aren’t able to withdraw their funds. When they try to contact customer service, they don’t get replies in a timely manner.

Adding to this frustration is the fact that sometimes scammers on the site receive high ratings by manipulating the system.

Some users are frustrated by the fact that some employers just search for the cheapest option on the site. They don’t necessarily look for quality and in the end their business suffers and they blame Guru.com when they didn’t choose quality for their business from the start.

Freelancers are frustrated that they’re sometimes outbid by others who only stick around long enough to complete a job or two and then leave because the fees that they’re charging aren’t sustainable.

What Are The Pros Of Guru.com?

  • Guru.com helps you to save time in your job search by bringing together employers from several fields that
    you might be interested in. Many people are trained in different areas. Sometimes you might get tired of
    working in a particular area and you might want to spread your wings or work with one of your other skills
    prime time. You can find opportunities in other fields by using this platform.
  • It’s not hard to learn to use it. Even beginners who have never worked online before can adjust to the platform relatively quickly. If you’re looking for remote work opportunities, this is a useful place to begin your search.
  • They have many years of experience and they know how to structure their site to make it easy for you to find
    information. You can form long-term relationships with clients after meeting them on the platform.
  • You can join Guru.com for free and learn more about its features. If you decide that it’s right for you, you can start paying for a membership plan to access more benefits and enhance your ability to earn by using its resources.

 

What Are The Cons Of Guru.com?

  • You can be outbid by people who don’t offer the same quality of work that you do.
  • Sometimes you might experience problems with getting your payments promptly.
  • You must do skill tests to compete well on this site because some employers are looking for them. You usually have to bid in order to get work via this platform and the bidding process can be frustrating.

Some Final Thoughts On Guru.com

Overall, this Guru.com review has shown that this platform is trusted by millions of users.

You can use it to find work in a variety of areas and as long as you keep your wits about you you’re unlikely to encounter scammers because there are systems in place to help protect you.

However, you’ll sometimes be better off focusing on areas that are less competitive. So, if you plan to use this platform to make money in the long term, you need to find ways to make your personal brand distinctive and ensure that you attract repeat customers.

Their payment systems are secure and you’ll get paid in cash for the work that you do. However, you can
expect to pay a job fee on some jobs. There are also some reports from users about delays in payment.

Star Rating 3/5-A good platform for freelancers looking for work. Worth checking out using the free option before deciding if the paid memberships could work for you.

8 thoughts on “Can You Make Money With Guru.Com? Review And Ultimate Guide”

  1. Thanks for the review at Guru . I’m staying in Orange Farm near Johannesburg . I have a diploma in International Trade . The duties involved everything about import-export and related duties . I want to find out from you if I can fit in this system .

  2. Thanks for this review of Guru! I had done a lot of research of freelance writing websites before I eventually landed on Wealthy Affiliate. Many of the cons you highlight are common among the sites I researched.

     I can’t tell you how many times I have read reviews that talked about bidding wars, making it hard to build your resume or get your worthwhile in payment because there are a lot more experienced writers or you have to keep your bids so low to actually win any. I’m also not a big fan of the fees this one charges however. 

    I think I’ll be avoiding this one thanks to your open and honest review! Thanks again!

    1. Hi Steve,
      Yes it can take some time to establish yourself as a freelancer, and the reality is that you may have to take low paying jobs until you get regular clients.
      The competition can be tough but it is possible to make it as a freelancer if you are determined and persistent.
      Thanks for your comment.

  3. It sounds like a pretty cool platform to grab some work online, but I am a little concerned about the membership setup of this system. 

    You say that the free membership comes with a sort of limit or ceiling on what jobs, or how many jobs you can bid on – what is this limit set to?

    1. Hi Chris,
      Yes the paid memberships will probably be off putting for some. You are limited to just 10 bids per month with the free membership, so this will obviously reduce the opportunities for freelancers on the site. If you want to create a good income on this site you would need to consider the paid options.
      Thanks for your comment.

  4. Thankyou for this review and information.  I am determined to make a living on line and I am constantly looking for ways to do this.  I particularly like the break down of the prices for membership and thank you for attaching the video.  This gives me information to make the right choice.  Thank you 

    1. Hi Lorraine,
      I’m glad that my review of Guru was informative, I wish you all the best with your online endeavours. Thanks for reading and for your comment.

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