Many people are nowadays turning to freelance websites to earn an extra income. In some cases, they are actually able to quit their full time jobs and rely exclusively on freelance work obtained through these websites. This is not surprising since working at home gives an individual more freedom and has many advantages that cannot be ignored and eventually make the prospect very attractive. Other people still work their full time jobs and mainly do their freelance projects during their free time and during weekends.
As appealing as earning extra money on these freelance websites sounds, you should keep in mind that making a name for yourself in the freelance world is often hard work. Since you are literally competing against hundreds of people from all over the world, you need to show that you would be a perfect fit for a project you happen to be interested in. Moreover, given the fact that some sellers on these freelance websites can offer their services at extremely low rates, you need to be able to convince the buyer that you are more reliable although you charge higher.
To increase your chances of being selected for any project, you must thus pay attention to how you present yourself to the seller. Ironically, this is actually the easiest part of the whole bidding project. As you would no doubt have noticed, many bids on freelance websites are merely one-liners that do not make a good impression. These are in fact automatic bids and are often ignored by buyers due to their low quality.
Consequently, you simply need to go one step further if you want to attract the buyer’s attention to your bid. The easiest way to do so is to personalize your bid by addressing the problem posed by the buyer, showing that you fully understand the project requirements, and using proper English. Even if your first language is not actually English, using good English greatly increases your chance of being ultimately picked.
You should also tailor your bid to mention the project requirements, as this shows that you actually took the time to read the project instead of just posting an automatic bid. For example, if the project involves writing the content of a Mauritius paintings website, you can mention that you have already worked on a similar kind of website or that you have visited Mauritius before. These kinds of details may seem superfluous but your willingness to impress the buyer always pays dividends. In fact, the more you write in your bid, the better. You should however make sure that this is of course relevant to the project.
Finally, another straightforward method of making a good impact on the buyer is to give an estimate of how long you would need to complete the project. If you do not have enough information at the bidding stage to do so, you should then not hesitate to inform the buyer that you will be able to give him a deadline as soon as you know more details. This will go a long way in showing the buyer that you are truly interested in the project and that you are a very reliable seller.
Authored by Ashvin Sawmynaden
Ashvin Sawmynaden blogs about a variety of topics including traveling destinations such as the Grande Anse, which is one of the most popular attractions in the island of Reunion, and internet marketing.
Nice article. I am a freelance writer and I feel that writers should band together and up their rates. It is clear that there is a need for writers and I feel we do not get compensated adequately.