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1 Year Seller Anniversary on Fiverr

jamesbulls

By jamesbulls
in Seller Wins

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jamesbulls Apprentice

jamesbulls

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So, it’s been just over a year since I started selling on Fiverr and what’ve I got to show for myself? In my first month selling on Fiverr I netted less than $30, and in the last month I netted over $1k. Next month I’m going to net over $1.5k. My goal when I started was to make $500 a month. My goal for this time next year is to be netting $3k a month. And you know, the rate I’m going, I think I can do it because I’m not even working two hours a day right now on fulfilling orders. For folks who are curious, I wrote a guide that shows everything everything I’m doing to promote myself and if you’re curious you can read it here: http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/32-detailed-tips-to-optimize-your-gigs-and-start-selling-today/

The guide I wrote is as relevant now as it was a year ago, but here are three things I’ve learned that are worth sharing:

#1) FAST DELIVERY. If you want your gig to be ranked high among featured sellers, then positive reviews are important. But believe it or not, what I’ve seen is that Fiverr’s ranking algorithm values speed of delivery more than quality of reviews. There are sellers in my category who regularly collect negative reviews, but they’re still ranked higher than other sellers because they deliver faster. Fiverr LOVES fast delivery. Granted, fast delivery won’t undo negative reviews and if your work just sucks then nothing will fix that, but it counts for an awful lot.

#2) MEANS, NOT AN END. Fiverr is a means to an end, not an end in itself. You know when you go shopping and the clerk hands you the point-of-sale machine where you swipe your credit or debit card? That’s what Fiverr is: it’s a point of sale machine. Yeah, Fiverr advertises itself and hunts up some buyers for you, but ultimately you’re not an employee of Fiverr, you’re a freelancer who works for yourself and Fiverr is ONLY the method by which you collect payments from your customers. Because Fiverr is a means to an end (living a freelance lifestyle), that means you still have to do your own advertising. If you’re not going to advertise yourself, or you’re not willing to do the work to learn how, then Fiverr isn’t going to be a good experience for you.

#3) MANAGE BUYER EXPECTATIONS. The key to providing what your buyers want is to make certain that they understand what you’re selling. This needs to be accurately reflected in your gig title; demonstrated by samples in your gig’s preview JPG’s and PDF’s; and explained in your gig description. If you’re collecting bad reviews, it might not be because your work sucks. Instead, it could be because you didn’t adequately describe your product or service to your buyer. Also, take advantage of the opportunity to provide follow-up instructions for your buyers. These instructions are provided to the buyer AFTER the purchase has been made, and the order doesn’t start until they complete these instructions. One of the things I tell my clients in this area is as follows: “Also, please remember that depending on the time of day (or night) when you place your order, I may require a full 24 hours to complete your order.” Buyers LOVE to get their orders fast, and some buyers will get seriously butt hurt if you don’t make it clear that they’re not entitled to your immediate attention.

Fiverr works if you work it. I’ve been trying to sell online for years, but this is the first place where all the pieces have come together. Other professionals in my field market and sell their services via their own websites, but the time and cost involved in maintaining a full-featured blog, installing an integrated order system, taking payments and handling refunds? Ugh, the list goes on and on. Fiverr simplifies a tremendous amount of my work, and for me that’s absolutely worth 20% of my gross. Here’s to another great year on Fiverr.

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juliangoldie Newbie

juliangoldie

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Inspiring story, sounds like things are going well on here for you, congrats on the anniversary! The speed of delivery point definitely resonated with me, I’ve recently been working on improving how quickly I deliver and respond to new orders.

On that note, do you have any tips on keeping organised when you start getting so many orders?

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jamesbulls Apprentice

jamesbulls

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Hey, Julian; thanks for the compliments. The biggest advice I can give for staying on track is to take advantage of your order queue. In the past, I would tell clients that if they had any follow-up questions, concerns, etc. to send me a message or to simply leave an update on the order page. The reason I said that is because if they requested a modification, it’d bump the order back into queue, start the clock again, and frequently result in a late order.

But, as I later learned, late orders don’t mean anything as long as your client posts a positive review. Since then, I specifically tell clients to request a modification precisely because it puts their order back in queue. This way, I don’t have to chase down messages in my inbox, or try to keep track of updates posted to my order - I just complete orders one at at a time as they’re displayed in my queue.

I’m not sure when this change was made, but orders bumped back into queue by buyers who requested a modification no longer display as late when it goes past the maximum amount of time for delivery. They do show on the order queue as being due “XXX hours ago,” or “XXX days ago,” but they don’t show that obnoxious “LATE LATE LATE” banner that they showed in the past.

As it happens, I’ve only ever made one late delivery, but it was with a repeat client who himself caused the order to time-out when he added a gig extra to the original order. The way it played out, the gig extra put the entire order back in queue, but because it didn’t add any extra time, the updated order counted time based on the delivery date on the original order. So, yeah - strictly speaking, it was a late order, but because my client posted a positive review it didn’t mean anything.

I know some sellers don’t like it when their clients request a modification, but tell clients to use that button for contacting me about anything related to an active order so that I can keep things straight.

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palabara Newbie

palabara

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I just want to point out from my own observation fast delivery doesn’t always rank higher. Some of my gigs are on top of the search results, and I don’t offer 24 hour delivery (without the extra) and one gig I decided to offer it on… I was tossed into the mix. So its weird how they rank, but I think its a combination of those factors but mainly how gigs are worded… Need to look into it, but the keywords and wording plays a big part.

The reason why, its like a search engine, when your searching for something you want to be able to see the “most” relevant thing towards your search criteria. I’ve been wording my gigs in practicality to be able to show up under many different type of searches that relate to my gigs niche. My click rate has increased in the process of doing that.

PS: Congratz on the Anniversary and all the success 🙂

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voiceofgreg Newbie

voiceofgreg

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What an awesome success story!
I too received $30 my first month. It was almost discouraging.
But after 3-4 months now fiverr has almost become a full time job w/ 6-10 in the queue 7 days a week. It snowballed out of nowhere after I got my first 3 or 4 jobs and hasn’t slowed down.

As you mentioned, I credit it to my 24 hour turn around. - I’ve been employing the inbox strategy as a safeguard against gig abuse.

I don’t generally offer free revisions on my voice overs (because it’s fairly subjective) unless I clearly have made an error in pronunciation or reading the script. - But always offer them in kind upon delivery on orders of $10 or more.

  • So I usually just mention I’ll take care of any fixes if they need them after they approve the gig delivery and to just inbox me.
    To be honest, I need to get over being irritated when people blatantly ignore my delivery standard and bring the swift click of justice down on that modification button.

But truly I think the worst thing about it. - Is the notification you get. “Unfortunately… so and so has declined your delivery”… Then you check it out and it’s got a big REJECTED stamp in red beside it… and you just think to yourself… “Man. I worked hard on that originally and I’ve got a ton of other jobs to do today. Is it worth my time to even fix this for $5?”

… But it usually is, even if your initial reaction is that of rage and rejection.

  • So I’m real happy to read that part about delivery time and positive feedback because although I haven’t late delivered yet. I’ve come pretty close. I’m sure it’s inevitable.

Keep on Fiverrin’ man. We live in the digital age! Employ yourself and live the dream!

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jamesbulls Apprentice

jamesbulls

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I know a lot of sellers don’t like to see a client reject delivery and request a modification, but I specifically tell my buyers to request a modification when they have questions about an open order. I used to tell clients to merely update the order or just send me a message, but I found that things got lost in the process. Requesting a modification bumps it back into the queue and keeps everything in one place.

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