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The Issue of Promoting Our Gigs Off-Platform


lorpheus

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There is plenty of advice for the newcomers on this forum and generally on fiverr about how to become a successful seller. Perhaps the most crucial element of these tutorials is the necessity to promote our own gigs off platform. For this discussion we assume that the seller is good enough at doing his gig to offer at least an average service, and satisfactorily fulfill the requirements of the buyer.

It is a no-brainer that one can only sell a service if there are potential customers finding and reading the offers. The issue is only where the traffic supposed to come from. Based on my experience most new sellers come to fiverr with the expectation that they will post their gigs, and the potential customers browsing the site will find them and place orders. However, this expectation goes out of the window when the competition saturates the site in certain niches (as it has already happened in most cases). Very few customers will brows through hundreds of offers just to find and buy a gig from newcomers, and there is even less chance that the lucky fellow will be you.

Even though fiverr mainly promotes the best sellers, the gigs of newcomers will also be shown to some potential buyers, so partially it is correct that some people will find and read such rookie gigs. But this traffic most probably will not be sufficient to make a number of sales worth mentioning. Here comes in the necessity to promote our own gigs outside of fiverr.

But if I have to promote my gig elsewhere in order to find customers and make sales, then where is the incentive to post my gigs on fiverr and bring my customers here? The whole point in becoming a seller here is to find customers on this platform and skip the need for self advertising. If I have to promote my services elsewhere and find customers from such self promotion, then why not just put up a simple one page website, or a blog to offer my service and direct the traffic to that page? The customers then can pay directly to my PayPal account, or use any other online payment processor. In such a setup there is the extra advantage that the potential buyers don’t get sidetracked with the offers of the competition on the same platform. Also, if one is not from the US and receives the payments via PayPal that takes about 4%, and has to convert the USD into local currency via PayPal that costs another 4%, then one receives only about 72% of the money paid by the customer.

If fiverr would take care of the sufficient promotion, then the ~30% loss would be kind of OK, since it is the cost of finding customers. But if I have to do the promotion on my own elsewhere, then from my point of view this business model loses its feasibility.

Now I expect some people will say something like ‘suit yourself, go and do your business elsewhere’, but that won’t eliminate the apparent conflict of interests. I am also not complaining about anything, just would like to see some valid arguments pro and contra about the rationality of promoting my service elsewhere and taking my customers to fiverr, instead of offering them direct service.

Naturally both options can run in parallel simultaneously. One can have a separate freelance site or blog that gets the traffic from his own advertising efforts, while keeping some gigs on fiverr as well, as long as it does not need extra promotion.

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I agree with you. Promoting my Fiverr profile outside of it is not that attractive to me anymore.

I used to love this platform. I mean, I had a platform that handled the orders, I could easily see the timers and all the other stuff. It was great.

Now, for me, the disadvantages tipped the scale in the opposite direction. If I advertise my business outside of Fiverr, I do it on my own.

Because I no longer see the point of paying the extra fees. I feel like I am not getting my money’s worth.

While I do appreciate this platform and the opportunities I had here, I feel that I’ve outgrown it.

I think that, for me, the drop the filled the glass was when I felt like I didn’t matter. I really felt that my opinion doesn’t matter for those that cash in on my commissions.

To that, I also added the feeling of not being safe, at all. And also not being respected.

So yeah, long story short. I’d rather pay 20% to me to do that extra work, while appreciating my own hard work and value, and while being in control of the clients I have. 🙂

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There is plenty of advice for the newcomers on this forum and generally on fiverr about how to become a successful seller. Perhaps the most crucial element of these tutorials is the necessity to promote our own gigs off platform. For this discussion we assume that the seller is good enough at doing his gig to offer at least an average service, and satisfactorily fulfill the requirements of the buyer.

It is a no-brainer that one can only sell a service if there are potential customers finding and reading the offers. The issue is only where the traffic supposed to come from. Based on my experience most new sellers come to fiverr with the expectation that they will post their gigs, and the potential customers browsing the site will find them and place orders. However, this expectation goes out of the window when the competition saturates the site in certain niches (as it has already happened in most cases). Very few customers will brows through hundreds of offers just to find and buy a gig from newcomers, and there is even less chance that the lucky fellow will be you.

Even though fiverr mainly promotes the best sellers, the gigs of newcomers will also be shown to some potential buyers, so partially it is correct that some people will find and read such rookie gigs. But this traffic most probably will not be sufficient to make a number of sales worth mentioning. Here comes in the necessity to promote our own gigs outside of fiverr.

But if I have to promote my gig elsewhere in order to find customers and make sales, then where is the incentive to post my gigs on fiverr and bring my customers here? The whole point in becoming a seller here is to find customers on this platform and skip the need for self advertising. If I have to promote my services elsewhere and find customers from such self promotion, then why not just put up a simple one page website, or a blog to offer my service and direct the traffic to that page? The customers then can pay directly to my PayPal account, or use any other online payment processor. In such a setup there is the extra advantage that the potential buyers don’t get sidetracked with the offers of the competition on the same platform. Also, if one is not from the US and receives the payments via PayPal that takes about 4%, and has to convert the USD into local currency via PayPal that costs another 4%, then one receives only about 72% of the money paid by the customer.

If fiverr would take care of the sufficient promotion, then the ~30% loss would be kind of OK, since it is the cost of finding customers. But if I have to do the promotion on my own elsewhere, then from my point of view this business model loses its feasibility.

Now I expect some people will say something like ‘suit yourself, go and do your business elsewhere’, but that won’t eliminate the apparent conflict of interests. I am also not complaining about anything, just would like to see some valid arguments pro and contra about the rationality of promoting my service elsewhere and taking my customers to fiverr, instead of offering them direct service.

Naturally both options can run in parallel simultaneously. One can have a separate freelance site or blog that gets the traffic from his own advertising efforts, while keeping some gigs on fiverr as well, as long as it does not need extra promotion.

The whole point in becoming a seller here is to find customers on this platform and skip the need for self advertising.

This has never been a true statement – of any business. Every business needs to market, promote, and out-compete the competition. If all a business does is find a place to exist, plop down, and wait for success, that success will rarely come.

Facebook didn’t make Myspace irrelevant in the social media category by sitting back and hoping people found them someday, and maybe chose to open profiles on Facebook. No, they out-marketed Myspace, and built their site as THE place to socialize in the digital world.

Upstart online websites like Amazon didn’t just start a website, and sit there hoping people would randomly find them and do business on their platform. No, they out-marketed brick and mortar websites in the physical world, and built themselves up as THE place to do shopping online. Department stores like Sears, K-Mart, Shopko, and countless others are going out of business because Amazon out-promoted their online marketplace, and made the physical shop locations less convenient.

Coca-Cola did not become one of the world’s leading soft drink producers by hoping people would randomly find their products and buy them. No, they out-promoted their competition – they put ads everywhere… on TV, radio, in print, even in sports stadium sponsorships (where people love to drink beverages during games…).

Toyota, a Japanese automobile manufacturer, didn’t become a global brand and open up factories in the United States and other major countries without advertising.

You get the picture. If a business wants to succeed and grow, they NEED to market and promote their products and services to the target customers that need them. No business has ever grown larger by sitting back and expecting other companies to all their work for them, for free. If you want to succeed, you knuckle down, and do the work necessary to help your target customers find you. Ever since the dawn of civilization, companies, businesses, and products have become popular because of marketing.

It is extraordinarily foolish of anyone – any business owner… any freelancer – to think that they can achieve success without marketing. Marketing builds businesses and brands. You learn to market your brand… or you disappear into the throngs of brands that have been out-promoted and forgotten. That is how business works.

Like it or not, as a freelancer, you are a business here on Fiverr as well.

If I have to promote my services elsewhere and find customers from such self promotion, then why not just put up a simple one page website, or a blog to offer my service and direct the traffic to that page?

Yes, why not do that? Why not do that instead of complaining that Fiverr should be doing all your work for you? Fiverr doesn’t exist to make you successful. Fiverr doesn’t exist to guarantee you orders. Fiverr exists to be nothing more than a hosting website, where ambitious and determined freelancers can host their services. The sellers that work hard to build their businesses and reputations on this hosting site usually find great reward, and Fiverr earns shared revenue from those. The more successful a seller is at growing their business within the hosting site rules, the more likely that seller is at being rewarded with visibility in the services catalog.

Fiverr doesn’t want lazy sellers, entitled sellers, or sellers who aren’t willing to do any work, because there is not profit in sharing revenue with sellers like that. Fiverr wants the sellers who take initiative, and work hard on their own to earn what they are worth. There’s a reason why Fiverr’s brand tagline is, “In Doers We Trust”. Fiverr wants doers. Doers do what is necessary to build their own success, instead of expecting Fiverr to do it for them.

I am also not complaining about anything, just would like to see some valid arguments pro and contra about the rationality of promoting my service elsewhere and taking my customers to fiverr, instead of offering them direct service.

I don’t know… your comments sounded a lot like complaining to me. But hey, you asked for valid arguments “about the rationality of promoting [your] service elsewhere…” I have just given you a long post about just that. Take from that what you will.

I speak from wisdom and experience. I imagine you can find something valuable in that.

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both in fiverr and in another appendix you will have to look for potential clients. What makes this page more attractive? that is a page known by many people and they know that they can get workers who do excellent jobs. It would be a bit of self if you want to advertise our own gigsg or not.

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Many, many moons ago, I played the double bass to a fairly reasonable standard in local and national orchestras. I didn’t play the clarinet, because I wasn’t a clarinetist. Nobody criticised me for not playing the clarinet, because I played the double bass. The orchestra had other people to play the clarinet, so it was all good.

I think the expectation that as ‘one man bands’, which most of us are on Fiverr, we should all be able to market our gigs etc. and if we don’t we’re being lazy, entitled etc. is repeated too often. Some of us have that ability - fantastic! Some of us don’t - that’s life. If you’re going to be great at what you do, keep doing it to the best of your ability and hire somebody, whether on Fiverr or not, to do the stuff you don’t like, or you can’t do.

Just because we can’t do everything doesn’t mean we’ve failed. It’s better to be good at one thing - whatever it is you’re offering in your gigs.

Every business, including car manufacturers (those businesses are usually a little bigger than the average Fiverr seller’s) has a large marketing department and a budget to match.

Maybe if you scale things down a little and give one of the many marketing experts on Fiverr a try it might work well for you?

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I gave this quite a bit of thought some time back and wrote a post about it here:

This post is part of my UPYOUR series based on This Poll and aims to help sellers to deal with issues related to the following four parts of the poll: I have got at least one order from a client I brought to Fiverr myself - 11% I tell people I know that I work on Fiverr - 17% Fiverr is not advertising enough - 13% Fiverr is collapsing due to bad publicity etc - 8% There is always a lot of debate about whether to send clients you meet elsewhere to your Fiverr profile. The clients I am sp…
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There is plenty of advice for the newcomers on this forum and generally on fiverr about how to become a successful seller. Perhaps the most crucial element of these tutorials is the necessity to promote our own gigs off platform. For this discussion we assume that the seller is good enough at doing his gig to offer at least an average service, and satisfactorily fulfill the requirements of the buyer.

It is a no-brainer that one can only sell a service if there are potential customers finding and reading the offers. The issue is only where the traffic supposed to come from. Based on my experience most new sellers come to fiverr with the expectation that they will post their gigs, and the potential customers browsing the site will find them and place orders. However, this expectation goes out of the window when the competition saturates the site in certain niches (as it has already happened in most cases). Very few customers will brows through hundreds of offers just to find and buy a gig from newcomers, and there is even less chance that the lucky fellow will be you.

Even though fiverr mainly promotes the best sellers, the gigs of newcomers will also be shown to some potential buyers, so partially it is correct that some people will find and read such rookie gigs. But this traffic most probably will not be sufficient to make a number of sales worth mentioning. Here comes in the necessity to promote our own gigs outside of fiverr.

But if I have to promote my gig elsewhere in order to find customers and make sales, then where is the incentive to post my gigs on fiverr and bring my customers here? The whole point in becoming a seller here is to find customers on this platform and skip the need for self advertising. If I have to promote my services elsewhere and find customers from such self promotion, then why not just put up a simple one page website, or a blog to offer my service and direct the traffic to that page? The customers then can pay directly to my PayPal account, or use any other online payment processor. In such a setup there is the extra advantage that the potential buyers don’t get sidetracked with the offers of the competition on the same platform. Also, if one is not from the US and receives the payments via PayPal that takes about 4%, and has to convert the USD into local currency via PayPal that costs another 4%, then one receives only about 72% of the money paid by the customer.

If fiverr would take care of the sufficient promotion, then the ~30% loss would be kind of OK, since it is the cost of finding customers. But if I have to do the promotion on my own elsewhere, then from my point of view this business model loses its feasibility.

Now I expect some people will say something like ‘suit yourself, go and do your business elsewhere’, but that won’t eliminate the apparent conflict of interests. I am also not complaining about anything, just would like to see some valid arguments pro and contra about the rationality of promoting my service elsewhere and taking my customers to fiverr, instead of offering them direct service.

Naturally both options can run in parallel simultaneously. One can have a separate freelance site or blog that gets the traffic from his own advertising efforts, while keeping some gigs on fiverr as well, as long as it does not need extra promotion.

Self-promotion isn’t for everyone, nor is it necessary to get sales on Fiverr. Self-promotion is great for extroverts, they can make YouTube videos about their passions, they can direct message strangers on Facebook. I’m not comfortable doing that, I feel it’s invasive and embarrassing. Maybe I’m too self-conscious for self-promotion.

So what works?

Your price, gig title, gig description, and the originality of the gig, is what matters the most. A $5 or $10 price helps when you have no reviews, later on, you can charge $10, $20, etc.

The customers then can pay directly to my PayPal account

Maybe the customer doesn’t feel comfortable doing that. Look at all the bloggers who love Amazon Affiliates. Look at FBA Amazon sellers. Why store inventory when Amazon can sell it for you?

I’m not telling to to send your customer to Fiverr when you don’t have to. If he’s happy paying you on PayPal, go ahead.

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I wouldn’t promote my Fiverr gig outside of this platform. Do I promote my writing services on social media? Of course I do, but I work directly with clients then. If I already have them on the hook, then they pay me directly. While would I direct them here to prolong the process? That’s just silly!

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The issue is that a lot of people coming to fiverr in a hope for earning big money fast and they know nothing about freelancing or building their own business and they keep repeating to each other “share your gigs” and more experienced sellers saying “don’t just share your gigs, do proper marketing”.

For that category of people I would say that marketing of fiverr gigs is a main step to learn freelancing.
For other people who already have business outside of fiverr there is no point of sharing their fiverr gigs and paying 20% for clients they could’ve get through their website.

I’ve never done marketing for my fiverr gigs. However I have a huge presence and big investments in my branding and marketing outside (that’s were I spend 20% from direct orders)

For 20% that fiverr takes I do expect to have a platform that is working without glitches and supporting their sellers. (I think with fiverr we turned to a different road along the way where the 20% fee became “be grateful to have your gigs here” from “we are taking the fee and in return you will get a support from our team when needed and a platform to host your gigs”.
Which is wrong approach in general. Fiverr is a GREAT platform for everyone who’s starting their own business and I understand why they took this approach that no seller is protected and can be banned any time (we know quite a few cases where it happened without sellers fault, like in a @iamsachmusic case and even though they restored his account he got a hit with cancellations and rating anyway)

To sum up: newcomers for sure should do marketing for their gigs (but not just spamming other social media’s with their links as they do rights now) but for established businesses it’s not necessary and can make more sense to invest in getting direct clients.

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The issue is that a lot of people coming to fiverr in a hope for earning big money fast and they know nothing about freelancing or building their own business and they keep repeating to each other “share your gigs” and more experienced sellers saying “don’t just share your gigs, do proper marketing”.

For that category of people I would say that marketing of fiverr gigs is a main step to learn freelancing.

For other people who already have business outside of fiverr there is no point of sharing their fiverr gigs and paying 20% for clients they could’ve get through their website.

I’ve never done marketing for my fiverr gigs. However I have a huge presence and big investments in my branding and marketing outside (that’s were I spend 20% from direct orders)

For 20% that fiverr takes I do expect to have a platform that is working without glitches and supporting their sellers. (I think with fiverr we turned to a different road along the way where the 20% fee became “be grateful to have your gigs here” from “we are taking the fee and in return you will get a support from our team when needed and a platform to host your gigs”.

Which is wrong approach in general. Fiverr is a GREAT platform for everyone who’s starting their own business and I understand why they took this approach that no seller is protected and can be banned any time (we know quite a few cases where it happened without sellers fault, like in a @iamsachmusic case and even though they restored his account he got a hit with cancellations and rating anyway)

To sum up: newcomers for sure should do marketing for their gigs (but not just spamming other social media’s with their links as they do rights now) but for established businesses it’s not necessary and can make more sense to invest in getting direct clients.

Fiverr is a GREAT platform for everyone who’s starting their own business and I understand why they took this approach that no seller is protected and can be banned any time

You do?

I don’t.

From a business perspective, is actually counter-productive. It’s like the Toyota company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line. That’s a short-term solution with very bad long-term effects.

Meanwhile, successful companies are focusing more and more on improving user experience. Successful freelancers focus on that as well. 🙂

I realize now why I don’t promote my Fiverr gigs outside of it. Very bad user experience, 2/5.

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Fiverr is a GREAT platform for everyone who’s starting their own business and I understand why they took this approach that no seller is protected and can be banned any time

You do?

I don’t.

From a business perspective, is actually counter-productive. It’s like the Toyota company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line. That’s a short-term solution with very bad long-term effects.

Meanwhile, successful companies are focusing more and more on improving user experience. Successful freelancers focus on that as well. 🙂

I realize now why I don’t promote my Fiverr gigs outside of it. Very bad user experience, 2/5.

From a business perspective, is actually counter-productive. It’s like the Toyota company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line. That’s a short-term solution with very bad long-term effects.

We’re not employees, we’re freelancers, independent contractors. Toyota workers are employees, they get an hourly wage, they have set hours plus overtime, lots of rules to follow, lots of bosses, and getting hired there is not easy, it might require many interviews IF you even get an interview.

The gig economy is different. No bosses, few rules, choice when it comes to doing what you want. Look at all the full-time employees that complain about their jobs. Ever read Dilbert? Scott Adams created that comic out of his experiences as an engineer for the power company. Dilbert is an incredibly frustrated guy, never getting ahead, always complaining about his coworkers, his boss, his assignments.

Successful freelancers simply do what works for them, and if they hit a roadblock, they find other ways to make money.

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Fiverr is a GREAT platform for everyone who’s starting their own business and I understand why they took this approach that no seller is protected and can be banned any time

You do?

I don’t.

From a business perspective, is actually counter-productive. It’s like the Toyota company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line. That’s a short-term solution with very bad long-term effects.

Meanwhile, successful companies are focusing more and more on improving user experience. Successful freelancers focus on that as well. 🙂

I realize now why I don’t promote my Fiverr gigs outside of it. Very bad user experience, 2/5.

company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line.

I would Disagree with this. Nobody paying me an hourly wage here or salary per annum. I set my own prices and can raise them anytime I want and control my earnings. A lot of sellers put 5$ prices not because they are afraid but because they want to be noticed and because we have a lot of sellers from countries where 5$ is a fortune, it’s a global competition not just a local market competition and that makes it tougher for everyone. Some stores providing discounts when they are just opening to attract clients and the same here some people forced to put lower prices to be noticed at the beginning but it’s purely their choice.

Fiverr even introduced fiverr pro and if you are a professional you can apply for it and charge proper prices.

Fiverr doesn’t pay us a salary we are setting our own salary here.

Meanwhile, successful companies are focusing more and more on improving user experience. Very bad user experience, 2/5.

This I would definitely agree with. User experience on fiverr is not the best. And for the fee that we are paying we should be protected but not punished.

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company would underpay and overwork their employees, using fear to keep them in line.

I would Disagree with this. Nobody paying me an hourly wage here or salary per annum. I set my own prices and can raise them anytime I want and control my earnings. A lot of sellers put 5$ prices not because they are afraid but because they want to be noticed and because we have a lot of sellers from countries where 5$ is a fortune, it’s a global competition not just a local market competition and that makes it tougher for everyone. Some stores providing discounts when they are just opening to attract clients and the same here some people forced to put lower prices to be noticed at the beginning but it’s purely their choice.

Fiverr even introduced fiverr pro and if you are a professional you can apply for it and charge proper prices.

Fiverr doesn’t pay us a salary we are setting our own salary here.

Meanwhile, successful companies are focusing more and more on improving user experience. Very bad user experience, 2/5.

This I would definitely agree with. User experience on fiverr is not the best. And for the fee that we are paying we should be protected but not punished.

That was a comparison folks, not a statement. I know we are independent freelancers.

The focus on user experience is something important for a successful company, that was the point.

I consider I am not getting my money’s worth here (the worth of the commission I pay) and that I am not respected, as a user of this platform. 🙂

I’d rather invest the 20% in ads for my website nowadays.

Of course, everybody is free to consider otherwise.

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  • 1 month later...

That was a comparison folks, not a statement. I know we are independent freelancers.

The focus on user experience is something important for a successful company, that was the point.

I consider I am not getting my money’s worth here (the worth of the commission I pay) and that I am not respected, as a user of this platform. 🙂

I’d rather invest the 20% in ads for my website nowadays.

Of course, everybody is free to consider otherwise.

I’d rather invest the 20% in ads for my website nowadays.

It’s not an investment unless you make money. If you “invest” on Google Ads and don’t get a single conversion, you just wasted good money. Also, why not do both? Use your money from Fiverr to buy ads on Google for your website.

Besides, suppose Fiverr changes their business model tomorrow, they let you keep 100% of your earnings BUT you’ll have to pay $100 a month, and management will have to approve each gig. Would that be better? I think that would be a nightmare.

Why not focus on the 80% you’re making instead of the 20% you’re losing? 80% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

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I’d rather invest the 20% in ads for my website nowadays.

It’s not an investment unless you make money. If you “invest” on Google Ads and don’t get a single conversion, you just wasted good money. Also, why not do both? Use your money from Fiverr to buy ads on Google for your website.

Besides, suppose Fiverr changes their business model tomorrow, they let you keep 100% of your earnings BUT you’ll have to pay $100 a month, and management will have to approve each gig. Would that be better? I think that would be a nightmare.

Why not focus on the 80% you’re making instead of the 20% you’re losing? 80% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

I absolutely agree with what you wrote here.

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