62+ Places to Sell Services Online and Grow Your Business
By Erin• 6 min read, Oct 2, 2024
The hardest part of starting a service business is finding a steady stream of customers who need your solutions. Luckily, many communities and platforms can help you sell services online and build your credibility while you’re at it.
A study by Upwork found that freelancers alone have contributed $1.27 trillion to the US economy in 2023. A 78% increase from 2014!
Whether you’re teaching a course, reviving furniture, styling hair, or creating websites, we’ve compiled a list of top industry-specific platforms connecting professionals to people seeking specific services.
We’ve split these sources into the following industry-specific categories:
We’ll also cover the following to help clarify how to get started:
Top platforms for selling services online
We’ve gathered some of the top platforms for selling services online. No matter what service you sell, we can assure you that one of the platforms below can support you in getting new clients and making some passive income:
- Fiverr is ideal for freelancers offering diverse services, whether it’s music, video, AI, programming, design, or marketing, you can sell your services on Fiverr.
- Upwork, a competitor to Fiverr, is another marketplace for professional freelancing, spanning from marketing and development to admin and sales.
- Freelancer is a unique platform where customers post a project and freelancers can bid on being selected by offering proposals and ideas.
- Toptal is a more high-end platform, it’s an exclusive network of vetted tech and design professionals.
- TaskRabbit is a place for all local home repair, mounting, moving, painting, and most popular, IKEA assembly services.
- Gigsalad is a platform to sell talent services for events like weddings or birthday parties. They cover everything from music and entertainment to food/beverage and photography.
For more specific needs, we cover every platform, for every type of service below. We’ve also included examples of a real freelancer for each to get you inspired.
Beauty, fitness & wellness
Booksy helps independent hairdressers — as well as barbers, salons, and other beauty businesses — sell their services online, get discovered, complete bookings, and manage clients.
theCut is a free app that connects barbers to customers in their area. It also lets you take bookings, schedule appointments, and accept payments in one place.
FindYourTrainer helps personal trainers find clients (and get found!), whether they’re looking for training at home or at a local gym.
Soothe is an app for on-demand massages; massage therapists can apply to take requests and jobs in their area.
Talkspace connects licensed therapists with people around the world seeking assistance from the comfort of their homes
Insight Timer is for meditation teachers and life coaches. It’s a popular free meditation app that allows you to upload content, and create paid workshops and events that build your audience.
Business and branding inspiration
In the beauty, fitness, and wellness space, typically clients are searching to improve themselves in some capacity. Therefore, your business should reflect this.
For example, let’s look at Zach Moore Training. He’s a strength coach, nutritionist, and mobility specialist. On his website, he breaks down what working with him will look like (getting clients excited about improvement).
He offers a free trial for his services, guides for both customers and potential customers to benefit from, and testimonials for social proof.
Examples of branding and logos in the beauty, fitness, & wellness sector:
- Hair salons and stylists
- Massage therapists
- Personal trainers or other fitness professions
- Yoga instructors
- Health professional
- Beauty business
Content creation and Influencer platforms
Hashtag paid Is a creator marketplace where you can connect to brands that are looking for influencers that align with their brand.
Content Flowz is a more bespoke influencer agency that helps connect smaller and more niche influencers to the right brands.
creator.co is a marketplace for finding brands, products, and experiences to create content.
Social Native is a platform for creator discovery and influencer management.
Aspire is a leading influencer marketing platform with a well-established list of influencers, creators, and adjacent tools.
influence.co is mostly a creator community that provides the tools and resources to make it in the influencer world.
Tribe group is a creator community that connects creators and brands.
GRIN is a platform for discovering and recruiting creators and managing them all in one.
Later Influence is an offshoot of the Later social media marketing platform, with built-in tools and a marketplace for creators and brands.
Coaching & Sales
ClarityFM connects business owners to their membership of entrepreneurs. If you’re approved as an expert, you can set an hourly rate and take coaching calls.
RepHunter helps independent sales reps find new lines to sell from manufacturers, service providers, and distributors.
Teachable is an online coaching platform that allows coaches to set up courses, lectures, workshops, certifications, and more.
Thinkific is a course creation and management platform for anyone who wants to sell online courses and skills.
Coaching & sales business and branding inspiration
For coaches and sales consultants, trust signals and proof are going to be your best friend. Let’s take a look at Tim Pollard, a speaker but also a sales coach. 
Immediately on Tim’s website, we see a quote from Steve Welsh, the General Manager at IBM. This adds credibility and trust once a user lands on his page without needing to click or scroll.
As you continue down his page, you see a list of credible logos, samples of his workshops, and also a breakdown of why working with Tim is different compared to other speakers and coaches.
Examples of branding and logos in the coaching & sales sector:
Food & travel
Airbnb Experiences is a way for chefs, hikers, nonprofits, and passionate locals to plan and list unique experiences for travelers to their city.
EatWith lets people become “a chef on their terms” by hosting private dinners in their homes and other unique spaces.
Flightfox gives you a chance to put travel-planning skills to good use by helping people find flights, book hotels, and make the most of their loyalty programs.
Hire A Chef is a website created by the United States Personal Chef Association to sell their services online. It connects personal chefs and culinary professionals to people in their area.
ToursByLocals lets you become an independent tour guide and connect with travelers to your city; signup includes training and marketing support.
Business and branding inspiration
In the food and travel sectors, the goal is to help potential customers imagine the experience they’ll get when working with you. For example, let’s look at Charlotte Shores, a premiere private chef in Utah.
When landing on her website, visitors are met with a photo that not only features delicious food but looks high-class. Especially in the food industry, photos are critical to showcasing your portfolio.
Examples of branding and logos in the food & travel sector:
Freelance (Knowledge work)
Fiverr helps you build your business (and portfolio) in graphic design, digital marketing, writing, translation, programming, and more. Sell your service online and work from home the entire time!
FlexJobs lets you find telecommuting, part-time, freelance, and contract work in more than 50 categories, from project management to sales.
Freelancer lets creatives find jobs in areas like website and app development, brand design, and digital marketing.
Guru is another freelancing platform that helps you find jobs in IT, finance, architecture, legal, admin support, and more.
Hubstaff Talent lets you sign up to find remote work and freelance projects in marketing, design, development, writing, admin, and business consulting.
PeoplePerHour connects freelancers (writers, designers, translators, and more) to established businesses, with jobs posted as “hourlies,” design contests, and more.
Toptal hires top freelancer talent in the areas of design, development, and finance. If approved, you can gain access to jobs from companies like Hewlett-Packard and Airbnb.
Upwork is an online workplace where you can connect your services to businesses big and small. A popular place for writers, designers, project managers, social media experts, and much more.
HireMyMom caters to stay-at-home mothers looking for flexible freelance work. The site links small businesses with qualified professionals and does not take commissions from either posters or seekers of a job.
Freelance business and branding inspiration
Freelancing covers such a broad spectrum of services. But no matter what your offer is, showcasing your work through samples or case studies is critical in freelancing.
For example, let’s look at Hannah Macready who’s a freelance journalist and writer.
Writing, whether it’s journalism or copy, is a creative medium and users get a sense of Hannah’s creativity once they land on her website. As you scroll down, you find a quick “about” section, before diving into clickable samples of her recent journalism.
Examples of branding and logos in freelancing:
- Freelancing covers a wide range of industries. So explore thousands of logo ideas and design!
Home Maintenance & Repair
Handy is a well-known network that lets experienced cleaners, handymen, plumbers, painters, furniture assemblers, and other home service providers find work in their city.
HomeAdvisor connects home improvement professionals to homeowners who need help with renovations, painting, roofing, flooring, and more.
Jiffy is another app for connecting home maintenance professionals with jobs in their city — everything from duct cleaning to pest control to furniture assembly.
MeetACarpenter matches carpenters with clients who need renovation services in cities across the U.S. and Canada.
TaskRabbit lets you sign up to be a “Tasker” in your area, and complete jobs like moving and packing, furniture assembly, yard work, and more.
MyRoofingPal connects local roofers with homeowners who either need a roof replacement or repair. Servicing all roof types!
YourMechanic gives mechanics a place to apply to be mobile mechanics and find evening, weekend, and full-time jobs.
Business and branding inspiration
For home maintenance and repair, you’ll want to highlight trust signals like testimonials, reviews, portfolios, etc.
For example, Honey Homes is a handyman service that covers any maintenance or repairs your home may have.
Honey Homes showcases press logos that instill authority along with their Google Reviews rating. They list their services and establish more trust by stating that all handymen are employed by them with full background checks.
Examples of branding and logos in the home maintenance & repair sector:
People & pet care
Care.com is a place to advertise your services as a caregiver for children, pets, seniors, and people with special needs. You’ll also find listings for tutors and household work.
Petsitter matches you with pet owners across the U.S. and Canada and allows you to post related services — kennels, doggy daycares, pet grooming, and more.
Rover (and DogVacay) is a network of pet sitters and dog walkers. Sign up to promote your services, take bookings, and accept payments.
Sittercity helps you find both full-time and part-time babysitting and child care jobs in cities across the U.S.
People & pet care business and branding inspiration
Whether for pets or family members, customers of these services need to establish trust with you. For example, Rossland Pet Sitting is a local pet care and pet-sitting business in British Columbia.
This small business works to establish trust and reliability with visitors. On the website, you get an overview of her services and experiences along with photos of the pets she’s cared for, testimonials, and her full biography.
Examples of branding and logos in the people & pet care sector:
Teaching & tutoring
AquaMobile is a swim school in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Apply to be an instructor or lifeguard to get jobs in your area.
Lingoda is an online language school where you can apply to be a teacher. It offers flexible working hours and class materials (plus no contractual commitment).
Skillshare lets you create and deliver classes on topics you’re passionate about and reach students around the world.
Teachers Pay Teachers is an educational marketplace where teachers can sell their resources and lesson plans.
Udemy is a popular platform that gives you the tools to create online courses and teach new skills to people across the globe.
TakeLessons helps you find online tutoring jobs and become a private math, language, or music teacher while setting your own prices.
Tutor Matching Service is an official private tutoring website of colleges and universities in the U.S., and lets you easily create a tutor profile and find jobs.
Verbling lets you apply to teach your language online, either from home or another convenient location. You can also set your hours and your rates.
Wyzant is a tutoring website that covers 300+ subjects. It lets you sign up to connect with students in person or online and set your rates.
Thinkific is an easy to use platform to develop courses and sell your knowledge online. Helpful templates and themes make it easy to customize without getting overwhelmed.
Kajabi is loved by course creators around the globe for its all-in-one course-building and marketing superpowers. You can develop landing pages, ebooks, and marketing pipelines to attract the right customers.
Teaching & tutoring business and branding inspiration
For all teaching and tutoring services, you want to display authority and credibility to be educated on the subjects you cover.
A good example of this is High Park Academy which is not an individual tutor but instead, a collective of tutors.
High Park Academy starts by establishing that credibility by stating that they’ve been tutoring for over 20 years. As you scroll you find a collage of testimonials and on their “Team” page, you can find biographies for all of their tutors.
Examples of branding and logos in the teaching & tutoring sector:
Translation
Gengo is a community platform for translators that connects you with jobs and an easy-to-use system to work on (and get paid on).
Trusted Translations lets translators and interpreters sell their services online and find jobs from clients around the world.
Unababel helps you work anytime and anywhere as a translator, offering training and evaluation to access paid jobs. The platform supports 28 languages.
(See the Freelance section for more resources.)
Translation business and branding inspiration
Similar to the teaching and tutoring services mentioned above, translation services also rely on authority and credibility.
When looking at the translation agency, Cultures Connection, for example, based in New York, they immediately give trust signals through reviews from three different platforms.
Voice-over & narration
ACX (Audio Creation Exchange) connects you with authors, literary agents, and publishers for narration and voice-over work.
Artlist is a licensed platform that offers high-quality sound effects, music, video, and plugins for brands and creators. They hire artists to support client projects.
Bodalgo lets you register as a voice talent or a translator to find freelance work posted by businesses (applicants are vetted). More than 80 languages are included.
Explainify is an animated explainer video service that recruits voice actors to work on its projects. Submit your portfolio/demo to be considered.
Voices.com is a place for companies big and small to find voice actors for online videos, commercials, product demos, and more. Sign up to start auditioning for posted jobs.
Business and branding inspiration
To sell voice-over and narration services online, you need to showcase demos and reels to give potential clients an idea of what you can offer.
For example let’s look at Andrea Hauwert who offers commercial, animation, and video game voiceovers.
Andrea showcases samples of her work directly under the header. She has a demo for all of her service offerings and a breakdown of her experience and studio equipment.
Examples of branding and logos in the voice-over & narration sector:
Virtual agent or assistant
Fancy Hands lets you sign up to work as a virtual assistant; tasks include making phone calls, scheduling appointments, finding hotels, and entering data.
Liveops hires virtual agents to meet call center and customer service staffing needs around the world.
Magic pairs busy business owners with real, human, virtual assistants ready to work on demand.
(See the Freelance section for more resources.)
Virtual agent or assistant business and branding inspiration
For all virtual agents and assistants, you’ll need to ensure you’re clearly communicating how you can make a customer’s life easier, saving them time and stress.
For example, let’s look at the virtual assistant service platform, Workstaff.
Their website indicates how their services can make your life easier, and they also display numerous trust signals like a 5-star rating across three different platforms.
Web design & development
Crowdspring is a place for creatives to sign up to be part of a crowdsourced platform for graphic design, illustration, business naming, and more.
Codeable is a place for WordPress experts and developers to offer their services to businesses and bloggers.
DesignCrowd is another design crowdsourcing site that allows designers to sign up and create apps, ads, labels, signage, and more.
Yeeply is a platform for web and app developers to get certified and find new projects, with a centralized place to manage work and get paid.
(See the Freelance section for more resources.)
Web design & development business and branding inspiration
For web designers and developers, showcasing your portfolio is key. Even your marketing website is a piece of your portfolio!
Let’s look at Kayleigh Noele, a freelance Squarespace web designer who works with small and solo businesses globally.
Kayleigh’s homepage features design projects (both full website designs and smaller projects), testimonials, services offered, pricing and packages, and more about Kayleigh.
Examples of branding and logos in the web design & development sector:
Writing & research
Copify is a U.K.-based site that connects freelance writers to jobs. Apply to be on their team to write blog posts, websites, articles, press releases, and more for a variety of clients.
Scripted is a site for writers and content marketers to find work — includes blog posts, email newsletters, social media, and website copy.
Wonder is a service that provides fast-turnaround research for agencies, consultancies, and businesses. You can apply to be a researcher, but you’ll need to prove your skills!
CrowdContent syncs writers with different specializations with content managers and business owners looking for blogs, webpages, reports, and other forms of content
(See the Freelance section for more resources.)
Business and branding inspiration
Similar to the freelance examples, for writing and research services, you need to easily showcase your work and experience.
Let’s look at Stephanie Gilman, a freelance writer based in Toronto.
Stephanie’s website shows her writing style, the services she offers, and what sets her apart from other writers (a very saturated space). Visitors can also find examples of her work to showcase her writing style.
Examples of branding and logos in the writing & research sector:
A few other places to sell services online (that are harder to categorize!)
Meet Your Psychic is a psychic adviser services website where psychics can go to offer their services online and receive a referral commission.
Talkspace connects licensed therapists with people worldwide seeking assistance from the comfort of their homes.
P.S. Check out our guide on how to start a small business for tips on getting from idea to launch.
Website hosting platforms to sell your services online (and why)
For any service provider, your website is your home base. Designing a website that speaks directly to the needs and challenges of your target client will make it much easier to generate leads and ultimately conversions. We dove into Reddit reviews to get the nitty gritty on which platform to choose for your website and why.
Check out our top picks of website hosting platforms below along with our complete list of web design trends for 2024!
1. Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular website builder that’s popular among small businesses and freelancers.
One Reddit user shared, “I have been with Squarespace since 2009. I love it. I love it because it keeps it simple so I can focus on content development, which at the end of the day, makes me the revenue I want. Plus, Squarespace support is amazing” when comparing Squarespace to WordPress.
2. Wix
Wix is a more affordable website solution, in some cases, even free. Freelancers that are just starting and might not have much budget typically start with Wix but with that, there are limitations.
One Reddit user, when asked about the pros and cons of Wix shared, “Wix is super easy to use. Because that is what is designed to be. I used it to build my very first website years ago.” But they also stated, “The limitations are glaringly obvious the longer you continue development. Not to mention they try everything to lock you into keeping their services.” So be wary of whether or not you want to commit to Wix!
3. Webflow
Webflow is known to be a great platform to build on, especially if you don’t have extensive coding experience. They have a large library of templates for customers to choose from or they can build from scratch.
When asked if designers recommend Webflow, one Reddit user stated, “Other than it being a great platform I really value the ability to copy and paste between projects so easily. If I spend time making X I can copy it right across to another project – many platforms don’t make this easily without duplicating the whole website.”
4. WordPress
And finally, WordPress. WordPress is likely one of the most popular web design platforms, allowing for lots of customization and templates through plugins.
In a Reddit thread asking about the good and bad when it comes to WordPress, one user broke it down well with the following:
“The bad: It’s considered slow and there are frequent vulnerabilities (typically introduced by plugins).
The good: Dead simple to set up. New or non-developers can make money ‘building sites’. SEO.
The best: Ease of use, you could put up a WP site for a trained monkey and never get a call about how to do something.”
How do I start selling my online services?
Starting an online services business requires an understanding of what you’re selling, who you’re selling to, and how to get in front of those customers while building trust.
Here are a few steps to starting your service business:
1. Identify your niche
Before you start anything, understand what makes you unique against other service providers. Maybe as a designer, you dedicate additional hours to collaboration meetings, or as a chef, you specialize in a niche cuisine.
Whatever it is, what makes you stand out? When you’ve identified your niche and unique selling proposition (UVP), you can move on to the next steps.
2. Find out who your customers are
Think of your ideal customers, who are they? What motivates them? What gets them excited? You’ll want to answer all of these questions and then find out where they live online and start building your presence there.
Ask yourself:
- What are their pain points?
- Which platforms do they browse?
- What are their motivations?
- How can you get their attention?
- What solutions can you offer to address pain points?
3. Create a brand identity
A brand identity is the ultimate way to make your business official and look consistent to the outside world. For most service-based entrepreneurs it means branding yourself (personal branding) and making a name for yourself.
Check out our beginner-friendly guide to brand identity!
You don’t need to hire a designer or a brand strategist, you can simply create a logo and brand with Looka’s Logo maker. Here’s what you need to start:
- A logo
- Consistent brand colors
- Up to two fonts
- Social media banners
- Branded invoices
- Business cards
4. Build a website and online presence
Have you ever landed on an unprofessional website and immediately closed the tab? You knew you wouldn’t trust anything a sketchy website has to offer. Especially with the rise of spam sites, you want yours to look trustworthy and professional.
A professional website is the first step to building your credibility online and establishing trust amongst visitors.
Take a look at our guide on how to make your own website!
5. Check out competitors
You don’t want to focus too much on competitors but having an idea of what they’re doing in the market can be very helpful when building your online service business. Some things to analyze are:
- What are your competitors doing well?
- What are they not doing well?
- What’s their UVP (unique selling proposition)?
- What channels are they marketing on?
- Who are they targeting with their services?
Having answers to these questions helps identify potential gaps for you to fill.
6. Start building credibility and testimonials online
Getting your first customer is hard mainly because you don’t have enough reviews, testimonials, or examples of your work online. But they’re important, TrustPilot found that 98% of consumers identified at least one trust symbol that increased their likelihood of making a purchase.
So ask for online reviews or testimonials from your customers and build your rapport online.