Experienced digital artist, FIVE years on Fiverr and ZERO gigs/messages. What to do?

[ulfeid]

Hi guys, I'm feeling very disheartened right now, so any help or suggestion would be extremely appreciated 😞
I know many people ask for help about this topic, but often they're very new on Fiverr and I'm not, so...

Title is self explanatory: I'm a midweight digital artist and graphic designer, working in the field since 2014.
I decided to join Fiverr in 2019 and, despite my experience as illustrator and quality of my products, wwhich you can briefly check in the attached files, I got literally zero gigs since then. Zero messages. Not even scam bots have ever contacted me, ever! 😂 Like, what the heck?

For context, this is my experience and how I approached "the issue":

• Yes, I consistently advertise myself and my gigs on multiple social networks.
• Yes, I did (and still doing) my market researches, then tailored gigs to my niche.
• Yes, my gigs are SEO-optimized with buzzwords and keywords in titles and captions.
  At least I think? 😅 If someone can give me some help about this in particular would be great...
• Yes, I also tried changing my gigs to expand my niche and target a more wide audience - didn't work.
• Yes, I posted new gigs to 'boost' my presence on Fiverr. Didn't work either. 
• Yes, I have high quality pictures and clear descriptions of services offered. I also attached a PDF portfolio showcasing lot of illustrations I did. 
• Yes, I've read billion of posts on the forum concerning the same topic (but and also read the Fiverr guide about how to optimize and sell your products, but tbh I feel I'm already doing (and done) everything I was supposed to.
   

And last, but not least... I also tried under-selling myself by lowering *a lot* all my pricing for 1/2 years, offering sales, special discounts on multiple products and packages. I mean, I had gigs with "average" pricing ( 10-20-30 USD/EUR) and not even this catched the attention of anybody. At any time. This last move should give you an idea of how frustrated and disheartened I kept feeling all these years as Fiverr seller. 😭

I guess I've shot all my arrows. Am I doing something wrong? 
Is there anything I can improve, something I'm missing about how to be a successful seller?

Thank you to anyone will take a minute to lend a hand! Luv ya 🥰

Quote

 

 

[ulfeid]

23 minutes ago, kitk265265 said:

have you considered advertising your gigs as NFT (Non Fungible Token) Art? We are an artist as well and found that the traffic and the AI are what seems to be good for traction. Also consider selling your gigs by finding forum posts and other forums or places that need this work. Fiverr is a medium, so I guess the Universe needs to bless you with your success. Consider our fiverr selection as well. We;d love to post your work all over the web. Sometimes getting that first gig is what lets you then get many gigs after, atleast that is what I have found from reading the forum. And overproducing, that is seemingly the key on Fiverr.

Overproducing" and "art" are two words that can't be really stay in the same phrase. I am a digital illustrator, not a robot. Nor a machine. And anyway, sorry, but what is this supposed to mean? I have done something like +300 works (probably more) in all these years, all of them properly promoted on my socials/websites. If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by overproducing when it comes to Fiverr? How am I supposed to overproduce here, if no one orders anything?  

Said that, yeah, I considered NFTs and for what is worth I'm not very comfortable at the idea of selling my art in that way; also for what I can see there are plenty other illustrators that are very active on Fiverr and get gigs without bending the knee to this horrendous NFT-thing, we are speaking of artists with a large wide of style and experience different than mine (maybe more experienced, less experienced) but still... They get gigs, I don't. Not to mention all AI "artists" that are actually selling prompted stuff while I hand draw and paint everything. What the heck? How is this even possible, what are they doing that I am not to be have successful gigs? I really don't understand. 

The "finding forum posts and other stuff thing" is something I already did (and keep doing on almost a daily basis), as said I'm consistently advertising myself pretty much everywhere. Just to mention some of them:
+45 different discord art-related servers,
Toyhouse, Behance, deviantArt, Buzzly,
Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and I also have 3 different personal websites. 

Honestly I don't know what else to do at this point. My Fiverr account looks just dead no matter what I'm doing, and I think I am doing a lot. I want so bad to give up, but how in heaven am I supposed to get at least my first gig? 

Is this a common problem for people sticking here on Fiverr since years or am I just having no luck at all? 

Edited April 11 by ulfeid

[ulfeid]

Link to my profile and gigs: https://www.fiverr.com/ulfeid
Any suggestion, guys? Any help? What should I do? 

[wiktoriahyde]

Hi, I checked your profile and I'm a bit surprised. Your work quality is lovely and you deserve more recognition! 

Did you try to promote any of your gigs? 

[ulfeid]

7 hours ago, wiktoriahyde said:

Hi, I checked your profile and I'm a bit surprised. Your work quality is lovely and you deserve more recognition! 

Did you try to promote any of your gigs? 

Hi there, thanks for answering... I appreciate your support 🥰

As I said in my post, yes, I am constantly promoting myself on multiple platforms and social accounts but nothing works. 

 

[wiktoriahyde]

1 hour ago, ulfeid said:

Hi there, thanks for answering... I appreciate your support 🥰

As I said in my post, yes, I am constantly promoting myself on multiple platforms and social accounts but nothing works. 

 

I mean promote your gig here, on Fiverr. I don't know if this option is available for everyone though. 

-> https://www.fiverr.com/pages/promoted-gigs

You pay only for clicks, so it's worth trying in my opinion. 

---

I started on Fiverr three years ago, and I remember that my prices were very low back then (I think starting from $5). It was a bit hard for me because I was already quite an experienced designer, and $5 in my country doesn't even get you a coffee. However, I was waiting for this snowball effect, and it eventually happened.

I received my first order after around three months. I tried changing my gig descriptions, keywords, and reducing the number of gigs.

When I look at your profile, it looks really nice. Your descriptions are great, and the quality of your work is lovely. You just need to experience this snowball effect.

Have you considered trying a Seller Premium program?

[ulfeid]

49 minutes ago, wiktoriahyde said:

I mean promote your gig here, on Fiverr. I don't know if this option is available for everyone though. 

-> https://www.fiverr.com/pages/promoted-gigs

You pay only for clicks, so it's worth trying in my opinion. 

---

I started on Fiverr three years ago, and I remember that my prices were very low back then (I think starting from $5). It was a bit hard for me because I was already quite an experienced designer, and $5 in my country doesn't even get you a coffee. However, I was waiting for this snowball effect, and it eventually happened.

I received my first order after around three months. I tried changing my gig descriptions, keywords, and reducing the number of gigs.

When I look at your profile, it looks really nice. Your descriptions are great, and the quality of your work is lovely. You just need to experience this snowball effect.

Have you considered trying a Seller Premium program?

Oh sorry, you meant promoting here on Fiverr! Huh, actually I didn't yet but I could give it a try. Tho... I'm very, very skeptical about this, I am honest. I tried the Seller Premium program for a year on another account*, while offering the same gigs/services, and it ended up being just a waste of money since I had no orders.

*edited to add: it was my old account, now closed and deactivated. Just adding this to clarify for anyone is reading 
 

Edited April 13 by ulfeid
Claryifing a thing

[smartdezigns]

10 minutes ago, ulfeid said:

 I tried the Seller Premium program for a year on another account, while offering the same gigs/services, and it ended up being just a waste of money since I had no orders.
 

You mean you have two Fiverr accounts? You do know that it's a violation of TOS. Right? No wonder why are not you getting orders or messages.

[ulfeid]

5 minutes ago, smartdezigns said:

You mean you have two Fiverr accounts? You do know that it's a violation of TOS. Right? No wonder why are not you getting orders or messages.

No, of course I don't. It was an old account, closed and then deleted 🙂 Let's just avoid making random assumptions, maybe? 

Edited April 13 by ulfeid
Adding

[smartdezigns]

1 minute ago, ulfeid said:

No, of course I don't. It's an old account, closed and then deleted 🙂 Let's just avoid making random assumptions, maybe? 

So what was the purpose of opening a second account?  Also, did you get the permission from Fiverr for it?

To your question: Why are not you getting messages/orders: Have you ever done research on Fiverr regarding your niche i.e. Illustration? It's a super competitive niche on Fiverr that's why you are behind. Observe other sellers how are they performing well. 

Social Media: It won't help you in bringing orders/clients. It only can increase your gig impressions + clicks and nothing else. 

[wiktoriahyde]

24 minutes ago, smartdezigns said:

So what was the purpose of opening a second account?  Also, did you get the permission from Fiverr for it?

To your question: Why are not you getting messages/orders: Have you ever done research on Fiverr regarding your niche i.e. Illustration? It's a super competitive niche on Fiverr that's why you are behind. Observe other sellers how are they performing well. 

Social Media: It won't help you in bringing orders/clients. It only can increase your gig impressions + clicks and nothing else. 

 

I couldn't disagree more. There is competition in almost every field now. I'm a social media designer and since everyone designs in Canva now, there are more than 59+ thousand designers just in my category. If we are afraid of competition, why even start? Why even bother? 

---

I promote one gig and it works - this year I spent around 90 bucks on promotion and my sales from it were almost 400. It's just a small percentage and I don't have a lot of sales from it, but I think it's worth trying when you are waiting for this first order. Additionally, I think that Fiverr gives you $10 for a start.