Pondering about Portfolios

[words_to_wow]

Hey everyone,

I would like to get your opinions regarding sharing portfolios to your profile page. Many sellers have their portfolios uploaded for public view and others instruct buyers to request to see their porfolio or samples. Additionally, there are those who use clients' work as samples for interested customers to see. 

I know that it helps to have a portfolio; it's something professionals do and all that good stuff. Maybe it's the paranoia in me, but I feel as though anyone can go into a portfolio and steal work, and claim it as their own. For example, I read the gig descriptions for a writing service of two PRO sellers, and it was the same exact content. Plagiarism drives me crazy, and I couldn't believe that one of these people had copied the other's text. Or maybe, they both copied someone else. Who knows? If people are copying gig descriptions, what else are they copying? Besides that, they are writers! I mean, write your own 💩!

For those who are writers, are you comfortable with sharing your stuff knowing there's a chance that it could be stolen? Before I knew any better, I used to deliver my customers' project as a PDF until I realized that I didn't want their content showcased for everyone to see. 

Fiverr keeps sending me notifications to upload my portfolio, but I am not sure. Maybe I'm overthinking all of this 🤔. 

I just want to see what everyone's thoughts are on this.

Thanks.

 

 

[smashradio]

2 hours ago, words_to_wow said:

Hey everyone,

I would like to get your opinions regarding sharing portfolios to your profile page. Many sellers have their portfolios uploaded for public view and others instruct buyers to request to see their porfolio or samples. Additionally, there are those who use clients' work as samples for interested customers to see. 

I know that it helps to have a portfolio; it's something professionals do and all that good stuff. Maybe it's the paranoia in me, but I feel as though anyone can go into a portfolio and steal work, and claim it as their own. For example, I read the gig descriptions for a writing service of two PRO sellers, and it was the same exact content. Plagiarism drives me crazy, and I couldn't believe that one of these people had copied the other's text. Or maybe, they both copied someone else. Who knows? If people are copying gig descriptions, what else are they copying? Besides that, they are writers! I mean, write your own 💩!

For those who are writers, are you comfortable with sharing your stuff knowing there's a chance that it could be stolen? Before I knew any better, I used to deliver my customers' project as a PDF until I realized that I didn't want their content showcased for everyone to see. 

Fiverr keeps sending me notifications to upload my portfolio, but I am not sure. Maybe I'm overthinking all of this 🤔. 

I just want to see what everyone's thoughts are on this.

Thanks.

Your worries are very real. A few years ago, some ignoramus tried to copy my gig description and gig video script. I reached out to customer support and they sorted it out. 

With writing, it's especially difficult to control this, and content theft is a very real business threat.

As a journalist/editor of a newspaper, I frequently send out invoices to other websites who steal our content without permission and/or linking to us as the source. I charge my full freelance rate + 100% for the theft + 100% for not crediting the source correctly.

If they don't pay, I'll take them to court and most likely win every time, since I carefully document the theft before I send out the invoice. 

On Fiverr, this would be more difficult. You could report the seller, but you'd still have to find the nincompoop first. 

Even so, I think a great portfolio has more advantages than disadvantages when it comes to writing. Sure, your content might get stolen, but at least you can do something about it (i.e. contacting support, reporting them, or even take legal action if you're really pissed off!). 

Having an empty portfolio can negatively affect your ability to sell. 

With all that said, I never deliver content in PDFs for the public to see. My clients privacy is my number one priority (except making them happy with their content) and I would never publish or share my work without their explicit permission. 

So for my writing gigs, I have no public portfolio. If a buyer wants to see my previous work, I have a selection of articles with permission to share + the newspaper I own and operate. 

I might miss out on work, but for me, my client's privacy comes before my wish to sell more. And frankly, I think many of my repeat buyers come back for more for that reason. I work with some rather large clients who would never want it known publically that they order content on Fiverr. They know they can trust me. You can't put a price on that. 

What you could do (and I'm actually considering this myself) is to "make up" an order. Give myself a subject and then write about it like I would do for a regular buyer. Then use that 100% original, non-client content for my portfolio. 

That way, you don't risk your client's privacy. But you still risk theives. 

[donnovan86]

3 hours ago, words_to_wow said:

Maybe it's the paranoia in me, but I feel as though anyone can go into a portfolio and steal work, and claim it as their own.

It's no paranoia, it's a genuine concern and that's why I created a separate blog with samples, this way if they want to steal anything it's already published 🙂 That works, at least for writers 🙂 

 

[words_to_wow]

@smashradio

Thank you very much. I do have a portfolio. I just wasn't sure if I should put it on my profile page. I do like your suggestion about using fake samples. I actually have some on my profile. But I need more and I can add those to my public portfolio once I build one. 

[words_to_wow]

2 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

It's no paranoia, it's a genuine concern and that's why I created a separate blog with samples, this way if they want to steal anything it's already published 🙂 That works, at least for writers 🙂 

 

That's a good option. I don't think I'd want to start a blog though. Seems like a big commitment. Lol. Jk. But you're right 😊. 

[donnovan86]

3 hours ago, words_to_wow said:

I don't think I'd want to start a blog though. Seems like a big commitment.

I have my own website, but for this I just started a free WordPress blog where I just upload some samples from time to time. It's free, it doesn't cost me anything and the content is uploaded there. So they can't steal it. Which seems like the best approach for me. I had some people just ask for samples and after I sent links they required me to upload files... A clear sign of scamming if you ask me 🙂

[frank_d]

I am not a writer so I’m not aware of the copyright issues mentioned.

I want to remind you that if you are not using a Fiverr feature at all, it is hurting your profile.

Not a lot, but it is definitely holding you back somewhat. 
 

So maybe use it but be creative about what you post and how it’s presented?

 

[melanielm]

On 6/30/2022 at 3:07 AM, donnovan86 said:

I have my own website, but for this I just started a free WordPress blog where I just upload some samples from time to time. 

Is this allowed? (I'm not accusing, genuinely asking as the whole profile thing always confused me.) WP isn't on the list of approved URLs (https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360011421218-Gig-policies). Can I share a different blog with people to showcase my work? Am I allowed to send out links to work I've done in the past? I'm still trying to figure out how to use the on-site portfolio (buyer decides to share the work or not) as a writer.

I created a rather simple blogspot site with random samples of the different types of things I do and constantly explain to people that I'm not allowed to share anything else with them. Am I losing out on a better option?

[donnovan86]

50 minutes ago, melanielm said:

Am I losing out on a better option?

I share it via messages when people ask for a sample. So it's allowed. It's not allowed to use it on your gig page. I am not doing that. I think this is the best option because people can't steal what's already published... I avoid adding any links in my gig...

[words_to_wow]

On 6/30/2022 at 10:07 AM, frank_d said:

I want to remind you that if you are not using a Fiverr feature at all, it is hurting your profile.

@frank_dHi Frank! I'm a little confused here. Could you elaborate on what kind of Fiverr feature you're talking about? 

[donnovan86]

11 minutes ago, words_to_wow said:

Could you elaborate on what kind of Fiverr feature you're talking about? 

What I think he means is that you should use the portfolio feature. and any other features at your disposal. I for one decided against it, because some people copied my work and used OCR to extract it, revised, and published my content. So for me as a writer, I just prefer to avoid sharing any live portolio that can easily be copied. But maybe that's just me. 

[melanielm]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

I share it via messages when people ask for a sample. So it's allowed. It's not allowed to use it on your gig page. I am not doing that. I think this is the best option because people can't steal what's already published... I avoid adding any links in my gig...

Argh (at myself)! Now I feel a bit foolish. I thought we weren't allowed to EVER share anything other than the links mentioned on the Help page.

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, melanielm said:

Argh (at myself)! Now I feel a bit foolish. I thought we weren't allowed to EVER share anything other than the links mentioned on the Help page.

Fiverr doesn't accept links like that in the gig description for obvious reasons. They do stop certain links in the inbox too, but I can assure you WordPress links are ok. They were never reported, nor did I have any problems. And as I said, that's a great way to create a portfolio without investing a penny. You can start your own website and show your portfolio there, but if you don't want that, a free WordPress blog will be fine. 

As an example, I have a YouTube related gig.. obviously I need the YouTube channel link from my customer, that's allowed. You're not allowed to show your YouTube work as a sample on the gig page... but that's something else. 

[words_to_wow]

2 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

What I think he means is that you should use the portfolio feature. and any other features at your disposal. I for one decided against it, because some people copied my work and used OCR to extract it, revised, and published my content. So for me as a writer, I just prefer to avoid sharing any live portolio that can easily be copied. But maybe that's just me. 

Oh, okay! Thanks, @donnovan86. I get it now! Me overthinking things. lol.

[melanielm]

1 hour ago, donnovan86 said:

As an example, I have a YouTube related gig.. obviously I need the YouTube channel link from my customer, that's allowed. You're not allowed to show your YouTube work as a sample on the gig page... but that's something else. 

Okay, I meant I thought sellers couldn't share other links. I know buyers can for order purposes.

Anyway, thank you. I guess I have to read the entire ToS and Help documents again to figure this out. I've always wondered why our profiles allowed for social media links if we're not allowed to share outside contact information. That seems counterintuitive. I think I'm a bit paranoid about losing my account after all this time.

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, melanielm said:

I think I'm a bit paranoid about losing my account after all this time.

I totally understand where you are coming from. In January 2023 I will have 9 years on the platform, so I get where you are coming from. Thankfully we get to help each other here on the forum, along with all the conga rats, random likes or emoji like surajkartha left without any reason and so on...