Enter the pandemic in 2020. Like many, I was stuck at home thinking about job security and finding ways to make more side income. As a multi-faceted freelancer (find out if you can replace your full time job with gigs), I sought Fiverr as a platform to offer my services for the first time.
And to my surprise, I earned my first 5-star gig within 3 months.
If you have been working hard in your profession for at least 5 years, are really good at what you do, and are ready to start freelancing on the side, this is my behind-the-scene account of my experience on Fiverr.
What is Fiverr?
Fiverr is an online platform mainly for freelancers to offer their services. These services are termed “gigs”. Each gig starts as low as US$5 and there is a wide range of categories a freelancer’s service can fall under, from NFT art, unboxing videos to research genealogy!
The 5-step guide to launching my killer Fiverr gig
Step 1: Use my experience to define my niche service.
Since Fiverr attracts freelancers from all over the world, there are thousands of various gigs listed. Defining my niche service becomes even more crucial for me to stand out from the rest.
I researched some key categories and gigs listed to find out what is trending and what my competitors are doing. Ideally, I am looking for a trending category with few competitors.
Finally, I went ahead to list gigs under “Writing & Translation” (why writing can be a side gig). As I have been writing on the Medium platform, I found that there aren’t many sellers with similar experience. This is when I went ahead and listed a gig – “I will edit and supercharge your Medium blog article.”
Step 2: Decide on prices.
Fiverr sellers can create up to 3 packages per gig with add-ons as a way to upsell their service packages.
From my experience is Fiverr tends to show the lowest-priced packages first, usually, those starting at $5. I took that into consideration when pricing my gig.
Finally, I decided to keep things simple with an “all-in” package at one price, with extra services as add-ons. It is the add-ons that really help to increase my revenue instead of just a measly $5.
A week later, I also created a second related gig to writing services at another price which helped boost my traffic to even more potential clients.
Step 3: Add killer descriptions and FAQs.
This step is the trickiest, in my experience, as Fiverr sets a 1200-character limit for the description. This implies that I had to be super creative in how to write my description to engage my potential clients. Think of it as the elevator pitch but in written form.
It took me a couple of days to tweak my description copy several times. I also researched my competitor’s description copy, especially the top-sellers, to give me an idea of what works.
All in all, there are 4 points I focused on when writing my description.
- Cut the fluff, go straight to the point of my offer.
- Add the benefits or expectations of working with me for that gig.
- Use popular keywords and phrases that competitors used can help boost my gig post to appear on search results.
- Lastly, I let my personality shine through with videos. (More of this in step 5 below)
Step 4: Get requirements from buyers.
At this stage, I am ready to start the job but first I need to know more about my buyer. When asking for requirements from my buyers, I want to be extremely clear about their expectations and goals to avoid misunderstandings and bad reviews later. For example, I went with this question: “What are your goals and expectations of your article(s)?”
Some of the other questions I asked are:
Are you familiar with using the Medium platform for editing?
(I asked this because it gives me a chance to upsell more services later)
Do you require help in publishing articles on Medium?
(I asked this because it gives me a chance to upsell more services later)
Would you like to discuss the project on Skype before starting? Note: This is only after the gig has been ordered. If YES, please leave your Skype username in the order note.
(I asked this as I prefer face-to-face or voice-to-voice discussion to establish rapport. I also felt this was a unique way to show to clients that I am confident of my services as a professional)
Step 5: Adding pictures, videos, audio to the Gallery.
A picture is definitely a default when creating a gig. However, as a new seller, I knew I had to do something different from other gigs to shine and also to build buyers’ trust with me.
I also found out that Fiverr is pretty strict on pictures used that even royalty-free images such as those from UnSplash are not allowed. With all that, I went ahead and created an image on Canva, using my personal photo and some key text.
I also recorded a short 60-second clip introducing the main features and benefits of engaging with me.
Once I have checked my gig, I am now ready to publish for my gig to go live.
What happens now?
I have to admit that I did nothing after publishing the gig, but to my amazement, 2 months later, I got my first gig from the USA requesting my writing services.
I was initially also skeptical and being wary of potential fraudsters. After some exchanges of messages, it’s a confirmed order which I have to complete within 48 hours.
After I handed the final work to my client, he tipped me an additional $10. That made me feel like a winner!
In fact, the client was so pleased with me that we continued to work outside of Fiverr for another 6 months, saving me the 20% commission fees to Fiverr.
There are also other highlights about working on Fiverr that I learned in the process.
- Fiverr holds funds for 14-days for new sellers before releasing them. This waiting period gets reduced as my rating increases.
- Fiverr is very popular for sellers from 3rd world or lower-income countries. I was not prepared to compete with them in the long haul. After 6 months, I ditched the Fiverr platform.
- Fiverr gives out “pro-verified” status to sellers with the right credentials, experience, and consistent top ratings. These sellers can price their services in the higher 3 to 4-figure sum per gig! This is the perfect category for seasoned professionals with all the credentials and projects ready for the Fiverr internal team to verify and give the coveted status.
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