Securing a project or getting your bid chosen is not as easy as it was some five to seven years ago. As the numbers of new freelancers in this platform continue to skyrocket and increase in geometrical proportion, the chance of getting one's bid selected is getting slimmer every day.
I remember when I newly started as a freelancer here in 2013; I could get as many as four projects in one day. But, the story is not the same today. With over 26 million users, with over half of them (about 15million or more) are freelancers, you need to do the extraordinary to continue maintaining that leading position and gain an edge in this profession.
Here are some tips to enable you to get noticed easily amidst other millions of competitors in this freelancing job.
Don’t be Jack of all trades master of none
Ensure that you focus on one or two services that you can adequately provide quality delivery. Do not load your profile with so many unwarranted services you are not an expert on. No one person can be expert in all categories of services. There are some freelancers that are into website creation, app creation, data handling, research, writing, proofreading, transcribing, language translation, engineering, IT, admin and others. As a potential employer, seeing these ‘clumsy’ and so many lumped up services, what comes to mind is that the freelancer is not a professional but a middleman who is only an expert in outsourcing assigned tasks to third parties.
Make it simple! State a category you can deliver quality services at all time. Similar jobs in this chosen category will begin to find you, instead of you laboring and wasting effort to find so many different projects where you secure few with bad remarks.
Read and understand what employers want before placing a bid
Most freelancers have already custom built writing templates for sending bids. They don’t have the patience to read and write a good proposal in relations to the different specific projects. Most employers don’t have the time to read junks and unrelated proposals. They may only end up leaving bad remarks by rejecting the proposals from this category of freelancers.
Every project is unique and should be treated as such.
Placing low project fee does not guarantee you will be selected
Most freelancers are not helping matters by placing low fees for projects that should be worth more. Be realistic: by placing $10 as fee or rate for a project requiring you to write 5,000 words, reports or articles, explicitly indicates you are not a professional. Most employers will see that you are a desperate who would just go for anything. You will be likely ignored. If you are not sure of what to charge see what other fees other professionals are charging or you make a bit of research so as to get an insight of the range of accurate price you can charge for different category of projects.
Make your profile page attractive
Use your photo or specific logo to decorate your profile. Your selected image should reflect what type of service you can professionally deliver. If you are a designer, develop a good logo to represent what you do.
Furthermore, ensure your profile page is 100% complete. Your profile further enhances the professional view that employers get. Don’t fail to constantly update your profile page with new items to keep you on trend with new development.
Take test and get certified for services
Display professionalism by taking tests and earning certified badges of services you can deliver. Freelancer takes a low fee for these tests. These badges go a long way to show you are a professional.
Try to avoid bad remarks or feedback
As a freelancer, you earn new employers’ attention with the remarks and feedback from previous employers you have worked for. So try to satisfy your employers' needs according to the agreement in the project contract you enter. Though there are some dubious and fake employers who will want to demand more than what was originally agreed, you can easily know such dubious employers from the feedback of freelancers who have worked with them. Also, you can check from their profile pages if they have awarded projects without successfully paying and completing the contract with freelancers.
Newbies: Be patient and learn from others
I remember when I was a newbie back in 2013, I was tricked by a dubious employer who was to pay £800 for a writing task. I was not experienced then, I accepted the order without demanding Milestone deposit. I labored for free without getting any payment. New freelancers should persevere and bid consistently. Don’t be too desperate to accept projects without having secured a guaranteed payment.
Applying the aforementioned tips would not only make you carve a niche as a freelancer in this platform, but will also reduce many wasted efforts that can obstruct your successful freelance profession.
