What happens when you publish a new gig? A Pro seller's guide!

[veyento]

Thank you frank_d for your detail brief. It is a very nice guideline for new seller in Fiverr. I'll must try your guideline. Hope it'll work. If it works, I'll inform you obviously. Thank you again for this. 

[imagination7413]

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A scammer will always exploit someone's greed, if you're not greedy, they can't exploit it.

"Ignorance" and "desperation" would be the other two states of vulnerability.

'Ignorance' is not a bad word. I just means 'I don't know'. For example, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to car maintenance. That means I MUST trust someone else to do work on my car for me. This does make me vulnerable to shady shops that might insist I need to replace my blinker fluid, but this is why self-awareness is critical. I know myself enough to identify my weaknesses, to get second opinions, and to seek out information to self-educate. (Thus your first point: "Read the ToS".)

Desperate people are more likely to take risks and gamble, even if, were they not stressed, they would NEVER do a 'thing' that they would otherwise know was foolish. I've watched a few scam-baiter videos recently and... well, I'll just let them speak for themselves: https://youtu.be/tuVWGIBYVCU?t=766. 

(BTW, thank you for sharing your experience with Fiverr thus far.)

[zeus777]

On 11/9/2022 at 10:19 AM, imagination7413 said:

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to car maintenance.

I know that was just an example sentence, but when I read that I went, and I literally said out loud, "Huh, that's me." (in Japanese)

What you posted up there is great/true/helpful/ and I agree with pretty much everything, but Andy...let's see how many "Thank you for great advice" "Tell me how to get more orders" posts you'll receive in the next 24 hours.😅 

[vickieito]

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Now I'm keen to hear what was disagreeable... I love critique, the harder the better, knock me down so I can get up stronger, and wiser!

I'm trying, but I really can't find anything to tear apart! All I ended up with was a list of really good notes! 

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stop listening to those Gurus on YouTube, they're like cancer for your career

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there are several things a new seller needs to know, and have, before publishing their very first gig, otherwise they're dooming themselves to failure, a failure of their own making, which can easily be avoided by learning what works, and what doesn't before you start selling on the platform. 

Those YouTube videos claim that all you need to do is sign up and money will start pouring in (you don't even need skills)! No wonder why so many newbie sellers are surprised when that doesn't happen.

This is the reason why most sellers don't even know that there's work to be done "before" publishing that first gig. Publishing the gig is the tip of the iceberg. What's below the surface is what you've outline in detail above.

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that's over 3,000 words, the sad thing is, those who need to read it most probably won't, damn, why did I bother? lol 

Normally when a newbie seller asks me how they can get orders (and I see that they don't even have a gig), I just tell them they need to publish their gig in order to make money. Now I have an article full of great actionable steps that they can take to start their business on the right foot and with the right mindset for success BEFORE they even publish that gig.  These are all the things that I wish I knew when I first started out. So, thank you for taking the time to write this!

I have been following your posts since you joined the forum and I'm blown away with the knowledge and insights that you have. I can't wait to see your business go live! 

[tarnos]

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If they're promising you a lot of work in the future, they're a scammer.

This might apply in many cases, but not all. Nothing is that simple and obvious.

I had similar messages and have been working for 3+ years.

When someone promises a lot of work/more work in the future, that simply means they might have more projects that needs work. Doesn't mean you should work for free/cheap just because of that tho...
Just do your work as usual and get paid. If they like it, they will come back. 

[tarnos]

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Very true, it's just in my experience that it's a red flag, and something I'm suspicious of but it depends on the buyer and if they seem legit, or like a blagger! 

Your main post definitely covers a lot of good points. Most of the time people should go with their gut feel.

If the work seems too easy for the money(or the opposite) then it might be a scam.
If they offer too many "benefits" then I would be suspicious.
If they need "time" to figure out if they can afford you, even tho your offer was something like $100...then you are talking to someone that has an issue spending $100 which is a red flag to me. (not very good long term, but not necessarily a scam)

Simplest rules in the whole world:
Nothing is free, so don't work for free.
If it seems too good to be true, then it's 99% fake.

[johnkiunga]

Thanks a million times @frank_d. After reading the first few paragraphs i rushed to my room, took a book and pen then scrolled. I am super greatful for this. I have been loosing hope with my fiverr gigs. 

I used to get gigs last year but then something happened when i missed an inbox for 4days and my gigs dropped to the round. I struggled fixing them by following myrths but never worked. This is very helpful. Am dusting my tools and getting back to work!!!!

[monira_designs]

When you get promoted, the criteria Fiverr uses to judge your performance and efficiency alter dramatically.

So, if you don't modify your jobs every time you're promoted, the odds are they'll be regarded as irrelevant.

[smart__videos]

On 1/25/2022 at 4:03 PM, frank_d said:

It’s unavoidable so it’s OK. You can still update the SEO title though, it’s hard to miss as you have to click on it in order to appear.

It’s underneath the gig’s title field and to the left.

Thanks for the information sir. but sir seo title is not appearing beneath the title what is the reason. and how can I open it if it does not appear there.(seo title)

[imagination7413]

18 hours ago, smart__videos said:

seo title is not appearing beneath the title what is the reason.

The reason is because things change. This topic is nearly a year old. SEO Title was removed back in June. 

https://community.fiverr.com/forums/topic/284431-seo-title-feature-removed/

 

[ahmedz502]

When I published my new gig two weeks ago I started to lose traffic to my main gig and then got outranked and lost my position in the search results. now I have no new clients because of publishing a new gig. fiver's algorithm is different from what we human think when you expect positive results it turn out negative from algorithm eyes.

[frank_d]

2 hours ago, ahmedz502 said:

When I published my new gig two weeks ago I started to lose traffic to my main gig and then got outranked and lost my position in the search results. now I have no new clients because of publishing a new gig. fiver's algorithm is different from what we human think when you expect positive results it turn out negative from algorithm eyes.

While this is true, the algorithm was not meant to be understood easily by humans, I think there's more to your story that what you just posted.

We lack context. What was the new gig about? Was it similar to the first one? 

Was there any weird activity in your account lately? (bought reviews, gig exchanges etc)

[imagination7413]

16 minutes ago, goodjobsirmaam said:

I wonder if Fiverr will make a Seller Plus members' only part of the forum ever

There already is, from what I've heard. But it's hidden and locked, I would guess due to the contract of being in the Seller Plus program.

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"All consultation and education shared[...] is personalized for a specific Seller in a specific time frame; please avoid sharing any information you receive [...]."

[droberts1990]

In the "Prepared Remarks" document dated 22 Feb 2023, (part of Fiverr's year end financial release) Micha Kaufman said:

"...digital service is highly fragmented, unstructured and complicated - so matching buyers and sellers through an e-commerce model is a fairly difficult product challenge. With AI technology, we can unlock the long tail of data we have and drastically improve the overall search, browsing and matching experience. We are already working on some of these ideas."

Micha Kaufman also said:

"Yet we are still in the first inning when it comes to unlocking the full potential of Fiverr. To do that, and especially under the current macro, what became clear is that we need to give the core marketplace much more attention and take a more focused approach and prioritize fast, flawless execution. We have set three straightforward priorities for 2023. First, improve comparability in the marketplace. With hundreds of thousands of sellers and millions of service listings, we must deliver world-class search and discovery technology to surface exactly the right breadth and depth of inventory tailored to each buyer. Second, create differentiated category experiences. With so many different types of digital services offered on our marketplace, some visual and others non-visual, we need to provide sellers with robust tools to express their talent and their work."

 

I may have this wrong, and I guess that you @frank_d already know all about this, but it sounds to me like - to borrow your term - Fiverr 3.1 / Fiverr 4.0 is on the way sometime this year. A new search experience for buyers will mean opportunities and challenges for sellers. That we will have to re-optimise our gigs for the new algorithm, but also it could make it easier for the "right" customers to find us.

As I side note, I guess that it will also make this thread "out of date", although I'm sure that some of the tips are likely timeless and so will be very useful for years to come.

As a certified total newbie, one of the things that has surprised me about the main Fiverr selling platform is the rate of change that it has. I suspect that that creates business risk for all of us sellers.

frank_d: Thanks for starting this thread, I really appreciate it.

[frank_d]

2 hours ago, droberts1990 said:

In the "Prepared Remarks" document dated 22 Feb 2023, (part of Fiverr's year end financial release) Micha Kaufman said:

My meeting with Micha in person was April the 13th of 2022, and we had a great discussion about the future of Fiverr and how the match making will work. So I am definitely at least partly aware of what's coming.

I will post a new article on March the 20th, as it is tradition for me to update this thesis with new data on my birthday.

 

  

2 hours ago, droberts1990 said:

As I side note, I guess that it will also make this thread "out of date"

Parts of it is out of date, the core premise remains: Fiverr still looks at performance and price to make said match making.

AI is being fed with learning models after all.