How to Create a Micro-Job Marketplace like Fiverr on WordPress

A micro-job marketplace is a great way of buying and selling short-term projects at a minimal cost.

Here, the sellers are generally freelancers or part-time workers who offer services in their field of expertise, charging on a per-assignment basis. People who require such services can get in touch with the respective service provider, explain their requirement, and get the work done.

Some of the most popular micro-job marketplaces prevalent today include Fiverr, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Zeerk, GigBucks, SEOClerks, etc. Each of these websites offers services ranging from as low as $2 to as high as $5000, depending on the service and customization you ask for.

Fiverr was one of the first companies to introduce the micro-lancing concept, back in around 2010. Although it did not really take off from the very beginning, the micro-job giant is taking the world by storm today, implementing this concept across various spheres such as music, digital marketing, business, programming and technology, and more.

Due to this resounding success, there has lately been an eruption of Fiverr-clone websites across the internet that are riding on the popularity of Fiverr.

However, merely imitating Fiverr’s website design, or adding a Fiverr-like site name are temporary hacks and of little use in the long run. It is a better idea to identify the features of the website that make it so popular and build a similar micro-job marketplace incorporating those, but which is unique in its own right.

The Features of Fiverr

Clean Website Design

A clear, well-defined structure makes it extremely easy for buyers to find the gigs required and contact the respective seller.

Easy Navigation

Fiverr incorporates breadcrumb trails on the website, which lets people move freely within the website, without getting lost or confused.

Novelty ‘Gigs’ for a mere $5

A micro-job marketplace like Fiverr has numerous novelty Gigs, from singing birthday songs in Welsh, to conventional ones such as website transfer from one hosting provider to another, all starting from $5 and increasing as per the customization required.

Multiple Gigs to Choose from

Fiverr literally has thousands of sellers offering similar services at approximately the same cost. This lets buyers pick and choose gigs as per specific requirements.

An Active Support Forum

The Fiverr community is extremely supportive and open to diverse topics of discussion, including sharing of helpful tips, personal experiences, sales strategies, and Fiverr news updates.

Secure Payment Gateways

Given the manifold transactions taking place via Fiverr (the company says they sell a Gig every 5 seconds!), fast and secure payment gateways are mandatory. The site charges 20% commission over each successful gig, and the payment is processed to the seller’s account once the gig is delivered completely to the buyer.

Social Media Integration

Social media platforms are a great way of promoting small-scale businesses. Fiverr integrates with all the major social media platforms, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram, to let users instantaneously post their feedback and reviews to these websites.

Localization Ready

Fiverr has considerable global exposure and supports several complete translatable versions of the website, thereby catering to a vast audience. Localization lets sellers capitalize on the requirements of their local markets and provide the requisite services to a niche sector.

Review and Rating System

There is an extensive review and rating system on Fiverr. Sellers can add a limited number of Gigs, based on their Level status (1, 2, and Top Rated). Buyers can post reviews about Seller performance, quality of the product, and the overall experience, once the Gig is complete. These ratings are taken into account by the website Editors while assigning higher Level statuses to the Sellers.

It is evident from these features that a micro-job marketplace like Fiverr needs several support systems, apart from the core, ecommerce marketplace functionality, to keep running. Let us now look at how we can build a similar website using WordPress as the CMS platform.

Creating a Micro-Job Website like Fiverr using WordPress

To create a micro-job marketplace website using WordPress, two methods can be primarily used; the first is adding a Fiverr-clone theme to the WordPress install for the marketplace interface and adding all other peripherals such as subscriptions, social integrations, commissions, contact forms, and more separately. The second is to install a multi-vendor marketplace plugin on top of an e-commerce solution like WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads and managing Vendor and Buyer transactions through the plugin.

Let us discuss each of these in detail.

Both these methods are discussed assuming that you already have a hosting plan and an active WordPress install setup. If not, you can read a detailed review of how to choose a hosting plan that best suits your requirements.

Moving on.

Option #1 The Fiverr-Clone Theme Approach

There are multiple Fiverr-clone scripts available for WordPress that replicate the design, layout, and functionalities of Fiverr to a more or less similar extent. Beware though, not all the themes available are trustworthy; some of these scam-scripts charge inordinately high prices while providing substandard service or broken code.

To help you shortlist the theme you require more easily, here is a list of the four most reliable and well-equipped themes for creating a micro-job website on WordPress.

Pricerr by SiteMile

One of the best themes that mimics Fiverr almost exactly, Pricerr is a strong option for a micro-job marketplace theme. The theme has literally the same design, look, and feel of the original Fiverr website. In terms of functionalities, Pricerr supports Gig listings, Facebook/Twitter/Google integration, email notifications, multiple payment gateways with several currency options, and a private messaging system.

Blogs can be posted via the native WordPress interface. However, if you wish to integrate discounts or subscriptions for your users, you shall need to integrate the required plugins separately. Pricerr is a premium theme, starting at $69 for a yearly license.

Taskerr by AppThemes

The Taskerr micro-jobs theme is a relatively newer one on the block. Nevertheless, it covers the majority of Fiverr features, and has a robust, responsive framework. The theme has five customizable color schemes, supports multiple pricing plans for job listings, and an Add to Favorite option.

However, it currently only allows the administrator to charge a fixed cut from sellers for listing their services on the website. Percentage commissions for each gig cannot yet be charged. Sellers have substantial control over editing and posting their gigs, and a review system allows buyers to add their feedback and experience about the gig.

Taskerr is priced at $69 for a lifetime license and 12-monthly support.

MicrojobEngine by Engine Themes

One of the advantages of the MicrojobEngine theme is that it has the same functionalities as Fiverr, but a slightly different user interface. In a world of Fiverr replicas, this can sometimes work to its advantage, as people want customizable designs that set their website apart. MicrojobEngine allows customizable order uploads where Sellers can charge extra money for further customization in the Gig (or MJob, as it is called here). There are integrated PayPal, Stripe, and 2Checkout gateways, an optional setup for enabling Buyers to log in through their social media accounts, and multiple templates for user notification emails.

The backend interface is pretty sleek and incorporated within the native WordPress interface, so navigation is easy if you are familiar with the regular WordPress setup. MicrojobEngine supports over 30 languages and lets administrators add their own at the backend.

There are two versions of the theme currently available, the Basic package for $89 and the Plus for $139.

WordPress Micro Jobs Theme by PremiumPress

The WordPress Micro Jobs Theme is a standard solution, which includes all the basic features you would expect for a micro-job website. There are multiple layouts available, designed as child themes of the original. Both the front-end and back-end user interfaces are straightforward, which makes navigation considerably easy. The theme also supports add-ons for further extension of functionalities. There are integrated Seller Profile creation options and a notification panel to keep track of Order status. One of the advantages of the theme is that it has an in-built newsletter widget that can be used to send mass email to subscribers.

Priced at $79 for a lifetime license, the Micro Jobs theme is a decent option if you intend on creating a simple, regular micro-job marketplace website.

All the themes above offer extensive options for creating a Fiverr-like website. However, to add features like regular backups, newsletters, subscriptions setup, discounts, SEO optimization tools, etc. integration of external plugins becomes necessary. Nevertheless, merely using these themes can provide you with a working setup to launch your micro-job website within a short period of time.

Option #2 The Service Marketplace Plugin Approach

As the name implies, here we intend to create a multi-vendor marketplace that is primarily service-based, instead of selling physical goods. The marketplace plugin provides the administrator with the tools necessary to add multiple Sellers and effectively sell their services. However, the bone of contention here is the digital product formats supported by the plugin.

There is a wide range of services to be catered to on a micro-job website; audio, video, documents, PDFs, zip files, software files, you get the idea. Which is why, selecting an e-commerce platform and a marketplace plugin that is compatible with all these product formats is important.

Here we will see three e-commerce platform-marketplace plugin combinations that can be used to create a micro-job marketplace website.

WooCommerce + Dokan Multivendor Marketplace Plugin

WooCommerce is WordPress’ darling e-commerce platform. However, WooCommerce can be used to set up only a single seller store. The Dokan Multivendor Marketplace plugin extends this functionality to multi-sellers who can each create and sell their services independently, on your website. The significant advantage of this marketplace plugin is that each Seller is now effectively a mini-store owner and can be charged for each service listing he/she uploads.

Dokan incorporates comprehensive sales analytics for each seller and all the orders covered, a flexible commissions setup for variable commission rates per seller, a complete review and feedback system, and a discounts and coupons management system.

The Administrator can create variable subscription plans that limit the number of services offered by a Seller at any given point of time. The Dokan Multivendor Marketplace plugin has three pricing plans starting from $199 for a yearly, single site license. The Lite version is available for free download and the premium plugin has a 14-day trial period.

WooCommerce + WC Marketplace Plugin

The WC Marketplace plugin is another multi-vendor marketplace solution built on WooCommerce. The plugin lets vendors create multiple digital and physical services that are sold on the multi-vendor store.

Administrators can control the activities of all the Sellers from a centralized dashboard that can be used to send notifications to all vendors in one go. The variable vendor commissions setup can be transferred via payment gateways as well as direct bank transfers. User roles can be assigned to all Vendors, limiting their back-end access.

The plugin has several add-ons that let Vendors manage their individual stores from the front-end, generate PDF invoices and autoresponders every time a service is purchased, and get analytics reports at the front-end.

The plugin is available for free download, with premium add-ons.

EDD Marketplace Extension + Marketify Theme

When it comes to selling only digital products on WordPress, the Easy Digital Downloads platform is unbeatable. This makes it near-perfect for the service-based micro-job solution we are looking for. EDD’s Digital Marketplace bundle transforms the regular EDD store into a full-fledged digital marketplace.

The functionalities included in this extension are social integration, wish list creation, commissions, front-end submissions, recommendations, and more. This settles the digital goods part; to create the complete marketplace, you can incorporate the Marketify theme and start adding Vendors right away.

When it comes to pricing, this combination is towards the higher end of the spectrum. The core EDD plugin is free, but the Digital Marketplace bundle is priced at $499. The Marketify theme further costs $69.

The Last Word

WordPress is one of the most flexible platforms for building a micro-job marketplace website. Each of the approaches seen above has its own advantages and drawbacks when it comes to website development. The theme-based approach is useful if you want to set up shop and start selling right away. The plugin-based approach is from a long-term perspective, where you gradually build your service store. The former requires peripherals to extend its functionalities, the latter can be developed intrinsically.

Either way, both the methods can successfully help create a beautiful, functioning micro-job marketplace website. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below!

• WordPress Solutions
• With tags: Fiverr, Micro-Job Posting Website, WordPress

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• Pranoti P

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