How to Use Remote Freelancers to Start an eCommerce Business

One of the big challenges of starting an eCommerce business is balance. In the early stages, it’s hard to resist the temptation to have your fingers in every pot. You can’t possibly do everything yourself, but renting an office for new freelancers seems like a huge (and expensive) hassle. Hiring remote freelancers instead could be a happy middle ground.

Since so much of eCommerce is conducted online anyway, remote freelancers are a much better fit than if you were running, say, a new restaurant. Remote contractors and full-time freelancers can do important, day-to-day tasks from anywhere, so you can focus on the big picture of your business.

You also have a much larger pool to hire from, not only in terms of numbers, but in terms of expertise. Many people who are great at internet marketing and sales have developed those skills in part because they prefer to work from home. However, even if you like the idea of hiring remote freelancers, you may not be sure where to start.

Below, we’ve outlined some of the areas you should consider when it comes to eCommerce. These remote positions can apply to your eCommerce business no matter which business model you are utilizing: drop shipping, wholesaling, private label, etc. 

If you are running a drop ship business model, we highly recommend you reading this eBook from our trusted partners at Oberlo, 50 Ways to Get Sales with Drop Shipping. The guide goes into great depth on strategies that you can utilize to generate more sales and then it makes even more sense to hire the freelancers that we outline below.

Using remote freelancers for customer service

This one is almost a no-brainer. Customer service can be a huge time suck, so it’s best to hire a few people to help you out. In fact, if you provide 24 hour customer service, it’s probably more convenient to hire people working in time zones that are not your own. Issues can easily be managed by different people in different places simply by using a ticket management service like Zendesk.

Some eCommerce companies prefer to do all their customer service strictly over email. If however, you also let customers call in, be sure to phone interview any candidates before deciding whether to hire.

Using remote freelancers for copy writing

If you’re in online retail, you may know the pain of getting a great product from the manufacturer, and nothing more on the description than a few size dimensions. You need an attractive description of the item to post on big sites like Amazon and eBay. There are plenty of experienced copywriters out there who can do this for you quickly. You could also use a copywriter for blog posts, or to spruce up your company home page.

Using remote freelancers for Adwords

Adwords is another area where the right expertise goes a long way. Logging into Adwords for the first time is mind-boggling, as you realize just how many filters and settings there are to think about. Managing Adwords the right way also requires consistent monitoring, so a remote freelancers can have the flexibility to check and update it from anywhere.

Using remote freelancers to fulfill orders

There are several different levels to how much you could outsource order fulfillment. At the first level, you can hire someone from the web to help you process and manage orders. You could then have a dropshipping company deliver your orders. If your business is growing very quickly, you might eventually want to choose a service that manages both the logistics and the delivery of your orders, such as Fulfilled by Amazon.

Using remote freelancers to manage your inventory

Managing your inventory, even when you’re first starting out, is a deceptively simple task that can take up a ridiculous amount of time. However, it’s critical to eCommerce to have plenty of inventory during big sales periods, which requires advanced planning. Rather than just ordering whenever things run out, a good inventory manager can plan ahead so that you’re always well-stocked when you need to be, but not taking up endless warehouse space (and incurring costs) when you don’t.

… and your product listings

While there are certain types of software, and certain algorithms, that can help you manage prices and cross-list your products, you still want human eyes on your listings. This goes double if your big sales are concentrated to just a few different listings across the web. The right remote freelancer can review images, titles, prices, and more, and be an advocate with customer service for the site you’re selling on, in order to get problems corrected as quickly as possible.

Find qualified remote freelancers on FreeeUp

As you scroll through these options, perhaps one or more has jumped out at you as the perfect way to give yourself a break or better update your business model. You don’t need to try hiring out every position right away, but you should certainly consider how remote freelancers can help you. Once you know what job you want to hire out first, we can help you take the next step at FreeUp.

We carefully screen a huge pool of candidates for you so you don’t have to sort through thousands of online resumes yourself. We also make sure they can pass a communication test that our expert hiring founders have built. When you sign up with us, you gain immediate access to our network of reliable freelancers. You fill out our simple request form and we introduce you to the best possible candidate within hours. We even cover cover rehiring costs, on the rare chance a new freelancer leaves. It’s the perfect, secure way to start hiring remote freelancers.

Emily Bell is a freelance writer with a passion for great content marketing. Her work has appeared in Forbes and around the web.