Have you tried getting clients on sites like oDesk or eLance? How’d that work out for you? If you charge a market rate as a mobile or web app freelancer, it probably didn’t go well.

That’s ok. There are other ways to get good clients that will pay what you’re worth. The best part is, you can still find them on these sites. You just have to tailor your services to this crowd.

Here’s how you can earn real money and clients in marketplaces like Elance, Odesk, Fivver, etc.

Charge to install services with affiliate programs

People on a budget can’t afford you to develop their app. But a few hours of your time to install services could save them money.

Look for services that could help your clients. It could be something that helps them update their web and mobile app themselves or a trigger-based messaging tool. Whatever it is, find out if the company has an affiliate or reseller program. You can charge to install it and make a commission. It’s a win for everyone.

Just make sure to be transparent. You want to be honest with all your clients, no matter their budget.

Update their app

On sites like Elance and odesk there are people who just need their app updated.  Try to work for them.

There are many reasons why.

First, you may finish their work faster. App updates are great if you’re in-between clients or too busy to take on full app work. And since these sites handle invoicing, you don’t have to waste time on it. Besides, clients with smaller budgets can afford you at less hours.

Second, if they’re updating their app, they’ve been through the process before. This could mean they’re easier to work with. This is unusual of low budget clients. Since they know what to expect you can spend less time handholding and more time working. This may make them a better client than some high budget clients.

Also, you may earn their business outside the site or at least have access to more consistent client work.

Charge for App Store submissions

Some developers hate doing it so much, they offer AppStore submissions to clients. There are others that don’t have AppStore submission experience (they may make hybrid apps or work more on other platforms).

Here’s an opportunity. If you don’t mind the process or have a lot of experience, why not offer it as a service? It’s easier for lower budget clients to accept your rate for a few hours of work. This is a bigger win if you can offer a quick turnaround. Just warn clients upfront about the process. Many clients don’t realize app approvals aren’t up to you.

Charge for support only

You may be too seasoned and expensive to make their apps, but it’d be nice to have you on standby for support. So, create a support only plan.

Find people who got an app made a few months ago. Target the ones that left reasonable developer feedback, even if it was bad. Reach out and ask if they need help. Tell them your experience can get bugs fixed quicker and you may save them money.

Even if they don’t need you now, get them to sign up for a monthly support plan. It guarantees that in an emergency, you’ll be ready to fix the problem fast.

It’s a great way to build rapport and your client base. You’ve even created a recurring income for yourself. That’s money in the bank every month without begging people to pay invoices or become clients. How cool is that?

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Charge for consultations

People need advice about their app idea. Be the person they go to. Use places like Fivver to offer your consult service. Now don’t offer a consult for $5. Offer a checklist (more on that later) and an add-on for a 30 minute session at your typical rate.

You aren’t coding anything.  Let me repeat, don’t code! You’re there to offer non-biased advice on what they need for the project. You just want to be a good person to point them to resources or give a realistic view of their project. Market your consult as a service to help people save time and money. You help them with their ideas before hiring a less experienced dev that can’t expect certain problems.

Best of all, if they like you and your ideas, who do you think they’ll consider for the job first 😉

Be a project manager

If you shudder at the thought of not coding, this isn’t for you. Hate managing people? Just skip this section now.  But if you have time to code your own work and the patience to oversee other projects this may be an option.

Clients that can’t afford your code, may be able to pay you a few hours to make their lives easier. You can help them answer dev/client questions better or evaluate why a project is going on too long.

Now this isn’t my favorite idea, but it’s an option. There’s a lot that can go wrong beyond your control. This could ruin your relationship with clients, but it’s an invaluable service. Even a high rate developer could do it for the most frugal clients without cutting their rate.

Charge for code reviews

A lot of people using sites like oDesk are on a tight budget. This often leads them right into the arms of the lowest bidder. The problem is (besides that you’ll never win) they aren’t always getting the most skilled coders. This is putting it nicely. And to make matters worse, that client has no code or project experience. So how will they know if their app is good?

This is where you come in. Figure out how long a code review would take you to do. How much are you willing to charge to review some of the worse code you’ve ever seen? What’s that figure? Now, I’m not implying that’s what they’ll get, but set a rate to expect the worse.

As a bonus, you may come back with such a poor report that they’ll just ask you to fix it all. Be warned, this may not be the client you want to create an app for. Remember how much they budgeted the first time around.

Charge for a checklist

Many Fivver sellers charge for checklists. So why aren’t you doing it? Include your branding, put your customers on your mailing list, and build a rapport to win them for real work. It’s a great way to build leads.

You can make these checklists as general or as niche as you want. Maybe you can create a checklist to help them find developers. Or maybe you can make a list that will help them get their project organized. It can be anything as long as it’s helpful.

So there you have it. That’s eight ways you can get budget conscious clients to pay what you’re worth.

As you may realize there are other ways to do this. Just let your imagination run wild and you’ll have more clients and money than you know what to do with.

P.S. If you’re looking for helpful tools, books, services, and design resources for mobile app developers, check out this list of 200+ resources.

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