WPCandy Pros is a new freelance platform from Ryan Imel and Brian Korgsgard, the main team behind the WordPress-centric blog, WPCandy. For years, we have known the power and flexibility of the WordPress platform; designers and developers have been jumping on board, creating themes, plugins and entire freelance businesses behind the content management system.
WPCandy Pros is a new opportunity for those dedicated to the WordPress platform to show their portfolio and land new clients. This article will take a deeper look into this new marketplace …
What is WPCandy Pros?
Take a look around the web and you generally find a slew of freelance marketplaces such as oDesk, Elance and Freelancer where WordPress designers and developers can land new paid gigs. Likewise, it’s common for these WordPress devotees to create a portfolio website but there has always been one major hurdle in these two approaches: exposure.
WPCandy Pros turns the table on the hard work of landing freelance clients because it taps into the massive community behind WPCandy, a website dedicated to WordPress news, theme development, tutorials, reviews and pretty much anything you can imagine when it comes to the platform.
As the website says:
Pros near any cities who specialize in anything for an average of any amount per project
Here, you will find simple, one-page freelance portfolios where designers and developers can show off their trade such as:
- Skills & Experience
- Location
- Price range per project
- Contact information
- Portfolio pieces
Unlike marketplaces like oDesk where you are limited to what you can show to potential clients – WPCandy Pros caters to the creativity of the designers and developers so they gain the greatest exposure while on the website.
The navigation is easy-to-use by allowing you to dig into each of the skills you require based on tags and categories; once you’re in the area you need, simple profiles are displayed that highlight the important elements you may be looking for such as the price, skills and best portfolio piece – this eliminates a lot of the headache of slogging through hundreds of unqualified freelancers on other marketplaces.
For designers and developers, WPCandy Pros is a great place to add another source of lead generation for your business – and it’s free!
How to Get Started with WPCandy Pros
If you’ve ever filled in profile information then you’re already way ahead of the curve but let’s explore the step-by-step process of setting up a WPCandy Pros account.
Step 1: Click on the ‘Create a Pro’ link at the top
Step 2: Fill in essential username and password information
Step 3: Setup your basic listing
Note: You could snag the logo you use on your own blog for upload along with any resume information you may have sitting around on your computer. Fill in the skills you know – don’t lie – and that’s just about all there is to it.
Step 4: Add your contact information
Step 5: Choose your profile type
For serious designers and developers, you may want to consider supporting WPCandy for their endeavors in putting together this platform especially if you consider it could land you gigs well over $1,000. ‘Sweet Pro’ accounts are $20 and give you access to a larger profile, priority in the search results and more information shown on your profile.
Step 6: Sit back, wait and edit
Your profile will be reviewed prior to being published but make sure you take a look through your inbox to guarantee that you have received your password when it comes in. Once approved, you will be up and running with your new WPCandy Pros account and on your way to landing new freelance clients!
Once you get that email, you can log into your WPCandy Pros account and make any additional edits such as adding pictures or additional links to other areas for people to find you on the web.
The above is the basic WP dashboard but highly modified for this website; you can see the basic information for my upcoming WPCandy Pros account.
Conclusion
WPCandy Pros is a great opportunity to get in front of people interested in hiring for WordPress-related freelance work. WPCandy has an Alexa rank of 11,494 and tens of thousands of visitors a month which means that you’re not only tapping into a platform that will help you gain exposure for your portfolio but you’re also a part of the bigger picture which is the WordPress community.
I hope you enjoyed this overview of WPCandy Pros and consider checking out the ‘Sweet’ version of the portfolio setup because this will definitely be a great resource to add to landing freelance clients.