A really really unsuccessful gig

[catsacue]

Hiya! I want to tell a little story about my current gig that's just not doing so hot.

I created it months ago, but then gave it up. I recently came back and changed the gig into something completely new and different and put a lot of effort into it. I don't really want to do it for money, honestly. I just enjoy drawing thumbnails for YouTube in general!
However, the past few weeks, it has only gotten 13 clicks and around 120 impressions. Considering how many people look for thumbnail gigs, mine was competing against a lot. I thought that the fact that I was drawing it would make it stick out, but instead it stuck in the mud.
It's a little disheartening, and I'm not sure what to change anymore, so I'm deciding to simply check the analytics each day, tweak it bit by bit, and hope for the best. Although it's unsuccessful, I'll try my best to maintain hope!
Once I get my first order, maybe things will turn around?

[sabinespoems]

On 3/1/2022 at 4:31 AM, catsacue said:

Although it's unsuccessful, I'll try my best to maintain hope!

Enthusiasm and passion is one of the key ingredients to make it as a freelancer, so try to never lose that hope! I understand the disheartening of it all when you sincerely love what you do and it just doesn't seem to take off. I'm not an expert in thumbnail creation, but I can give some tips on how to me (in the shoes of a potential buyer) sees your profile; 

1. The first thing in your gig description you wrote "'I started to apply my favorite cartoony style into a thumbnail theme and decided to try doing more!". The fact you say 'try' implies you're only just starting out and it might not come across to potential buyers as professional. As if you look at their projects as practice if you know what I mean? Perhaps try to focus more on why you're excited to draw for them & why you're the right person for the job.

2. After that you mention there's a video of you drawing one of the thumbnails in your portfolio, but there is no video 🙈 I think showing how you draw it is a great communication tool so upload that asap! 

3. I searched Fiverr on 'cartoon thumbnails youtube' and that had only 674 hits, compared to 'thumbnails youtube' which had nearly 12,000. That's a huge difference and means you're in a niche! I'd say adjust your tag words to that. 

4. What really helped me out in the beginning was researching the competition and I highly suggest you do the same. How do they position themselves? What can I do that they don't? How do I stand out? Researching competitors should of course only serve as inspiration and never as a way to copy them. Be unique is always the key. 

Of course keep in mind this is just feedback and do with it as you please! You definitely have the motivation so instead of focusing on the mindset of having an unsuccessful gig, keep the attention on how you can make it better. Which you already have so it's only a small step of channeling those efforts into creating the best cartoon youtube thumbnail drawing gig there is 💪 

[catsacue]

5 minutes ago, sabinespoems said:

2. After that you mention there's a video of you drawing one of the thumbnails in your portfolio, but there is no video 🙈 I think showing how you draw it is a great communication tool so upload that asap! 

I actually had a video for a while, but I took it away as I didn't want it to be the main image (it wasn't eye-catching) but I will DEFINITELY put it back!

(it's there now... 😉 )

Also, thank you so much for these tips! They really helped me out and I will put them in use! My only problem is that "cartoon thumbnails youtube" was too long to be put into search tags. Is it find if I put "cartoon thumbnails"?

Again, thank you so so much for these tips!

[sabinespoems]

9 hours ago, catsacue said:

I actually had a video for a while, but I took it away as I didn't want it to be the main image (it wasn't eye-catching)

Did you know that you can pause the video at any time? That way you could for example put the image you have as a thumbnail now in the video and pause it there, so then the thumbnail remains the same! I can't see the video yet (it's probably being processed by Fiverr) but it's a good thing you've put it back

9 hours ago, catsacue said:

Also, thank you so much for these tips! They really helped me out and I will put them in use! My only problem is that "cartoon thumbnails youtube" was too long to be put into search tags. Is it find if I put "cartoon thumbnails"?

That's definitely fine! It will probably already help tremendously for the searching.

Also just keep in mind that you even when you're doing everything 'right' on your gig, you might still get no orders because not only are you competing with others but the demand might not be so high (right now) either. 

But I do wish you good luck on your Fiverr journey! 

[catsacue]

16 hours ago, sabinespoems said:

Did you know that you can pause the video at any time? That way you could for example put the image you have as a thumbnail now in the video and pause it there, so then the thumbnail remains the same! I can't see the video yet (it's probably being processed by Fiverr) but it's a good thing you've put it back

That's definitely fine! It will probably already help tremendously for the searching.

Also just keep in mind that you even when you're doing everything 'right' on your gig, you might still get no orders because not only are you competing with others but the demand might not be so high (right now) either. 

But I do wish you good luck on your Fiverr journey! 

Thank you again!

My video is... still processing, haha.
However, I still do not understand what you mean about setting thumbnails for the video. It's a little confusing, could you please clarify? 🙂

[sabinespoems]

19 hours ago, catsacue said:

However, I still do not understand what you mean about setting thumbnails for the video. It's a little confusing, could you please clarify? 🙂

Of course! I looked up how Fiverr describes it (since I feel they'll be way more clear than if I attempted to explain) which you can read below; 

When a buyer searches the marketplace, the video you upload will appear as the Gig cover image. To adjust this thumbnail:

1. While in Gig Edit mode > Gallery > Video > Edit
2. Press Play > Pause the video on the desired frame > Set as preview > Close
   
   Note: To adjust your video's thumbnail, your video must be approved first