katakatica

At this point, if I were you, I'd start questioning if I'm following the right advice AND selling products that people actually need/look for. Think about it this way. If you do a search on the forum, you'll see that rank as it used to be doesn't exist. Search results are fluid - and part of what 'places' you is relevance (to the person doing the search) based on price, etc. - and the other is, well, performance (which is how you did on your previous orders, etc.) SEO is still important from what I understand, but it's not the deciding factor. The issue is that all of those things you've listed are very generic advice. What you need to do is find what works for you, NOW (so not based on 2-3 years old videos, etc.) My advice to you to start with would be better gig images - they aren't awful, per se, but as designer you could do miuch better. People will judge you based off your art, right? Many of your examples I could recreate in canva or photoshop within a few minutes - what stops potential clients from doing the same? Once you stand out amongst your peers, you have a chance. Right now, your gigs get LOST (no matter which page they are on.) Competition. Fiverr considers SEO, yes, but also thinks about performance (which I know is partially why new sellers feel like they have little hope.) Fiverr isn't google (and so the same techniques won't work.) Buyer's request unfortunately was at the point where it caused more harm than good. If I'm being honest - new sellers will likely get more briefs as they get passed over (by more experienced sellers, etc.) or if they are relevant, but it's still a new system so it's hard to tell how that will work. Fiverr doesn't really 'favour' experienced sellers anymore than other engines favour sites that have proven to be more profitable. As mentioned before, when you first start your account, you get a pretty good boost that should be enough to get you seen at least. Once that fades, things get trickier, but not impossible. In your case, I honestly would just try to niche down - maybe you can offer all these services for more specific target audiences? For example, my target audience is gamers (mostly) so I focus on writing for games and narrative design. (not SEO though, I know very little about that.) Maybe you can find a field that has less SEO writers and try from scratch? (I WOULD do research about this, but trying wouldn't hurt.

Fiverr gives new sellers a boost at the very beginning - that is when you are supposed to prove your worth, like many other sellers have. Briefs are just an 'extra' and still under construction, so I'm sure that eventually, some will reach new sellers as well (new features take a while to work out.) Relying on briefs/BR was never Fiverr's intention - so all you have to do is find different ways to impress clients via the search function. It's not as easy as it sounds, of course, but trust me, there's been many new sellers on the forum who managed to climb up in ranks WITHOUT relying on either (and instead, focusing on showing their talents.) As a TRS, most of the briefs I get for now I pretty irrelevant - some are OK, but not quite there - I'm not sure you'd like to get those kinds of 'jobs' and keep rejecting them again and again. Focus on you and use all the tools Fiverr HAS given you (a boost, ability to have many gigs, to get the rising talent badge, to promote yourself (in relevant spaces), ETC. )

It's important to keep an eye on your inbox a few times a day, yes. Being online all the time does nothing though. Go about your business, practice (if you have the time) and check in from time to time. If you're good, you'll get orders.

Expats say don't order your country's food abroad. Eat Swedish food. I was told sustromming scares off buyers though...

i am waiting for my goulash ordor - will that help me rank, sir? (These silly topics crack me up lol Hope people learn to understand jokes eventually xD)

I think the title is speaking for itself but I feel like I need to elaborate a bit (as always!) So.. it's getting genuinely cold here and during the week, going out is just hard (yes, I'm complaining about -7 celcius outside. Yes, I'm a baby.) Obviously, that means that I'm spending (even more than usual) time in front of the screen! I'd love to know what you're currently playing - or maybe some recommendations on classics that you think everyone (should) know. I just finished Celeste (not the Core yet, just the rest of it but will go back today to try and finish that epilogue) so to be honest I'd love to sort of play simialr-ish platformers, but the best recommendation I've gotten so far is Super Meat Boy (of which I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of. Or... I am not YET the biggest fan of. Not sure. I also got to play something I worked on (but... that's not out yet, though I can't wait to spread the word about it because it was so much fun!) When I think of winter, I want sort of cosy stuff - games that make me feel all fuzzy inside as well. Do you feel the same? Or do you maybe prefer the crazy/spooky winter games? I spent the past 3 weeks struggling with Celeste so don't really have any other recs (other than perhaps Wytchwood if I hadn't mentioned that yet) but yeah! I'm curious about what you guys are up to lately!

I'm having an awful day (don't worry, I have chocolate and maybe waffles later to make it better) but this somehow made me snicker, so.. even if you get no other response, there's that! Unfortunately, it seems like the platform is also losing interest in you. If I'm being honest, none of your gig images (or gigs in general) appeal to me. It seems like you read a blog post about HOW TO GET RICH IN 2 DAYS, forgot to read the comments about how the post was a lie and well... tried your best, but it's not enough. If you look around on the site, say, just search logo design but filter for TRS/PRO sellers. Can you confidently say that 'yes, my work can be as good as theirs?' I know, I know - you get what you pay for but even then, you NEED to sell something that at least looks 'OK'. I remember when my sister discovered a picture editor for the first time (we were like... 10-12 years old max?)That's what your pictures remind me of - which would be completely fine as a hobbyist as you LEARN but not when you want to sell something. Choose ONE thing you're truly good at, pause your gigs, take a year or so to STUDY your chosen field and come back. Seriously. That is my genuine advice for you. I know it's harsh, but at the moment I just don't see the potential. It might be in there - but you need to work on it - and you can't really expect people to pay you while you do so.

That's pretty good! I changed a lot of things up this year but completed more orders than last year, which I'm already proud of - I'm mostly focusing on Fiverr as well but hoping to launch my own projects for passive income as well (but it's hard when I'm busy already!) I hope that people will read this post and start thinking about what CAN really help them get (this many) orders! (what=talent/hard work/research and some other things in my opinion!)

I feel like there is a very strong moral here that might get lost... Congratulations, though, that's a LOT of orders in two years!

Most people on here are sellers like you so we can't really bring BR back - but I'm genuinely curious. How many orders did you get from it? Was it truly that useful to you?

Hey, another writer here! If you worry about not having much of a portfolio (that you ARE allowed to show), I would honestly just write up a few pages - but not work for free. If no order is made, you get no reviews (and, obviously, no order) so if anything, it hurts your account (imagine getting 10 messages (not spam) but not making a single order out of them. While it happens sometimes, the goal is always conversion. Being nice is great and all, but it also makes you sound cheap/low quality. Trust me, if you're good and have good samples, people WILL eventually find you. I hope no one remembers my 2017 era. I was AWFUL at making good gigs (but a good writer even then) and... here I am. Never 'sold' anything for free (not intentionally, at least.)

I.. uh... I am not pretending. If you look up some of my old posts (on the forum in general) you'll see proof (if you don't take my words for granted) but I'm working on a pretty big game (I can send you the outline and art I have so far if the posts aren't enough :P) and I happen to be looking into outsourcing both artists and likely programmers/devs for it. The project is a bit slower than I wanted it to be because of how busy I am/health issues that prevent me from working overtime, but I keep a close eye on new sellers (artists, mostly) who might fit the vibe I'm going for (and who I actually have messaged from the forum mostly or found via BR.) I am on both sides because I'm both a seller AND a buyer, why does that feel so impossible? I can only tell you MY experience with briefs as a buyer - which means that I was given two sellers with not-so-much experience on site (granted one of them had a lot of experience on other grounds) and a level 2 seller. Yes and no from what I understand. I think it's OK to pause your gigs from time to time, but especially with so many new features (Fiverr has changed a crazy lot this year) I think you might lose out on a lot (promoted gigs, seller plus, briefs, etc.) if you use them frequently because you take yourself out of the equation. As for your level 2 friend, that IS a bit odd, honestly, but I don't think that's necessarily tied to briefs. Maybe in one year we'll be able to say for sure but I genuinely think that briefs are still changing all the time (and maybe not everyone is 'in' the system yet? In the actual search I typed in 'game art' and saw basically everything (from no level seller to pro) on the first and secong page, but I know that it depends on who's searching (and how much they tend to purchase for.) I think what we're trying to say is that YES, we have it easi-ER, as higher levelled sellers, but it's still possible to 'shine' if you genuinely have the talent. Good images actually help a lot, same as descriptions (because clicks are in a way, more important than impressions, right? You want people to see you and CLICK. For that, you need a great image (not saying you don't, but I'm sure you could make them pop even more.

When I see briefs, sometimes I see the option (as a seller) to message the buyer, so maybe that's why? I messaged all three sellers a quick 'thanks' (just in case) but I really would prefer two different systems. As a seller, I do get them as notifications as well (and not as actual messages) which is why I was a bit confused (but I guess it might be because I was given custom offers through the briefs?) It's definitely imperfect but I actually like how it only matches you with 2-3 people at a time (from a buyer's perspective). It feels much easier/cleaner than having to look through 50-70 near-indentical answers like before.

Thanks! This will really be just testing waters - I want to try my hands at writing for board games/ttrpgs (and journalling games) so had a sort of light-hearted idea that'd let me kind of test systems/puzzles (sort of?) and just in general, styles of writing out and decided that I might as well publish it to see how it works! I'm still hoping to do bigger projects later but starting small feels a bit easier than doing the massive VN with 100k words, 20 characters and so on that I want to do eventually! That sounds really interesting - would it be similar to the Quarry and (what was the other one, the one with the vendigos as well?) I've never actually played Life is Strange (but of course as a VN fan I know how is is when choices matter. Being a solo dev is tough, hope that you're able to work in a good pace (and not overwork yourself!) But yeah, I'd love to help with testing later on! No worries, and I'm glad! Hope that you get to treat yourself to some nice winter(y) drinks/snacks these days (and...maybe some gaming as well!)

If you need a (not-so professional) game tester, I'm always happy to help! (I actually DO test for friends but obviously I'm not...good at games so!) What kind of game is it? Sounds like a VN OR some sort of horror thing to me? (if it's a secret, no need to tell, I just... love games!) I'm actually hoping to publish version one of a project I've been working on for a while next year to start getting a bit of a name as an indie dev. but there's a lot to do before that happens... a LOT. I know this is silly and cliché, but if you need a stranger to listen, my inbox is always open! (however, if you actually do want to share, I WILL be posting a less happy and more reminiscing topic if I don't forget.) But I'm happy that you're able to work on something that you truly want to happen!

It's December! I mean, it has been for a few days but I was too busy playing Celeste and being lowkey sick to notice so, first of all, happy cold month! It's been relatively chilly here which I'm actually happy for (we have heating inside finally and fuzzy socks!) Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about all the things that happened this year - I won't go into too much detail but some of you know that I managed to move to a big city, vacation, make it to TRS (on my worth month, too!) and actually hit some insane personal records writing-wise. However, while those are all brag-able things, I think I'm proud of something else... I learned how to cook. Ok, fine. I'm learning how to cook tasty meals. I love going to restaurants but it's not exactly affordable here to go all the time so it used to be either that or basic stir-fries for me... Once I started cooking for two people, it made it easier to learn and experiment as well. A lot of things went wrong (mapo tofu in burnt pepper oil being one of the most recent things) but it's also been super fun! So... what's something that you did this year that made you proud/happy? It can be any big or small thing - I'm just super curious!

I posted a brief just out of curiosity. No budget (so could be high budget) flexible deadline. I did it for a logo because I actually need one at the moment, but I could post in game design later if you want (but not sure what difference that would make.) When I posted for game art in BR last year, I was mostly offered art for children's books (that was NOT what I wanted) so maybe now it'd be more relevant? I was paired with 2! level one sellers and one level two seller. Not new sellers, admittedly, but level one. I'm trying to figure out how to make a screenshot to prove you (without showing names or my inbox as that's where the messages appeared) but... it took literally two minutes. I get it - not getting briefs in a more niche, well, niche is VERY likely because only certain people get them now (though that WAS a thing for BR on lower levels as well, just perhaps not this much) but that's why I told you to create more gigs. If you're only on here for the holidays, might not be worth it but it's something you can still do, isn't it? TRS advice is what works for us. We are successful sellers so maybe... giving it a shot might work? (THAT being said, I do NOT like the fact that they are inbox messages and they look like buyer messages - would love a better solution...)

I checked back out of curiosity and ACTUALLY, I was averaging 2-3 more orders / month as a level 2 seller this year (before being promoted). I do earn more now but that's because I raised my prices by a lot when I became TRS. Being a TRS is great, yes - but it's never a guarantee.

Between the four of us, we've probably written around 30 (if not more) posts to directly AID new sellers on Fiverr. If you add all the others who helped, there's literally hundreds of posts! We shared tips and tricks that worked for US. I genuinely don't understand this growing dislike towards sellers who happen to be doing better than others. Yes, we're telling you that BR didn't work because it did NOT. Not because I didn't benefit from it (because at that points, i couldn't have cared less) BUT because people were being mislead, scammed on BOTH sides. Do you know the last few months of creative/game writing BR? We had a good... 5 people to choose from (yes, posting every week or so on different accounts, but that's totally normal, right?) a. was a person who needed 50 THOUSAND words for basically 60 dollars in one month. They had 20-30 replies at first (slowly less and less.. because something was sketchy, of course.) Tell me how that's worth it for the seller for a review? b. was a pervert who tried to quench their thirst by asking for woman's NON-CONSENSUAL experiences...in great detail. They also posted about other sketchy stories (so no, wasn't for a pure reason) that often could have involved MINORS. c. was your regular seller posting again and again 'give me worrk, I'll be good' d. was basically a but with a different project (game writing, i reckon for an even smaller budget) e. was... ah, a good buyer. Yes, they popped up from time to time but... they likely didn't remain there for long. This basically went on and on - and if your theory is correct on TRS getting EVERYTHING and others getting nothing, I was able to see EVERY.SINGLE.BR. Maybe in other niches it wasn't THAT bad but.... from what I've heard on here, it wasn't much better. I also posted in BR several times and had my SELLER inbox full of messages of 'I saw your post, give me work'. 20-25 a time. BR COULD have been an awesome tool but it was awful. (By the way, I get basically the same briefs as above so far so not much has changed.) No one is making false claims. Briefs are NEW and the experience they give everyone might still be different but if you look on the forum you WILL see that lower levelled sellers HAVE gotten briefs. However, when you're on the site for years, at some point you need to fend for yourself and be able to attract buyers in the actual marketplace. You can't just constantly hunt for buyers. I'll tell you something - before I made my 'return', I had the most basic profile ever. Generic ghostwriting, few gigs, etc. You know what I did to stand out? Made new gigs. Experimented. Tried to see what I was good at. Everyone can do that - as an artist there's so much MORE you can offer. Want more briefs / orders in general? Diversify. Seriously. You clearly have the talent so why not show it in different ways? Stop blaming others and the lack of BR because likely, little has to do with it.

Are we really though? Or do we just think that the BR system was heavily flawed? I haven't had a single order from briefs yet (still training the AI) but I also haven't gotten offers from BR since like.. 2020 I want to say? Trust me, I want more talented new / level one (and so on) sellers to succeed. I often reach out to people whose post I see on here (and our new,but not marketing themselves but just saying hello) and end up with pretty fun projects with their help. I want more talented people on here and love supporting their business. Why am I against BR then? The spam, scam (and hundreds of buyers who want to pay $5 for hundreds of ours of work are just a few reasons to mention. It could have been just given a revamp, yes, but briefs were likely just a better idea in the long run. New sellers still get a boost from Fiverr - And the same chance to be in the marketplace. With (often) slightly lower prices, they have every chance to get buyers, but I'm also certain that they CAN get briefs. Fiverr isn't working against its new sellers (though the site is still absolutely imperfect.) It might be harder to get going now but that is not Fiverrs or more experienced sellers' fault. I would even say BR being gone isn't so important to that factor either. What is then? There's just more new sellers than ever - so the market is saturated. Buyers have more choice even between new/lower levelled sellers only. They just want better matches and higher quality stuff go be sold. More money in the long run, right?

In an ideal world everyone would have equal chances (which in a way they do - anyone can set up a gig). But that doesn't mean that they can all succeed. On Fiverr, people with poor English skills will have it worse than those who are fluent in it. This wouldn't be the case if the main language was something else (then, the tables would turn.) Same goes for how those who have plenty of experience in their field will find it much easier to get started than those who are in it for the quick money and know very little. Would you say they deserve orders as well? You ARE an established seller and shouldn't have to rely on BR or briefs. Promoted gigs are better some months than others but the feature CAN be helpful. Honestly, ups and downs are pretty common on here. In November I earned over twice more than in October (and my monthly average). Decemeber will be worse. I don't think any of that is related to the updates, it's just how business is. I hope that you will get more orders again though, good luck!

So my big Christmas project is to get my family up here sometime next year (was impossible for Christmas but we're working on getting dates / etc. I'm paying for most of it so I guess that's my present for myself? I was going to get my hair done again before the holidays but decided to wait a bit (growing out more of my hair might make it not as pretty but a new colour will be way easier that way than it is with all the blue.. will still be hard for sure but not so bad.) So I decided to splurge on a Nintendo switch, but was told to not buy anything until after Christmas so... (Not expecting that in particular as a gift but sales will hopefully be great after boxing day so!) Something I needed to splurge on (and treat as a gift because altogether it cost me more than my laptop (gasp) was a BUNCH of proper winter clothes as I didn't have any and just froze last year (yes I wore my regular leggings outside. I'm not very smart.) I used to hate spending a lot on clothes but November was my first month I hit a new milestone anyway AND it's Christmas soon so... It's all good 😄

My tip is simple - forget about being online / refreshing the page all the time. It does nothing. If you have work or practice to do, just do it - it's a much more productive way of working. When you get a message (or any other notification) you'll hear a ping anyway so it's all good.

I'm making katsudon for the first time tonight and I can't wait for the steam hot food to be done! Hotpot I miss so I might try and make it next week (the one I've been to so far isn't my favourite! I looove curling up in bed with a game (bedroom TV and switch have their pros) or movie.

Yes, it's me again - asking about random things. I WILL be making an effort to do it a bit more, too, as the Holiday season arrives, but I'm starting with something simple. So... what's the best thing about winter? Do you like the cold? Or the cozy clothes? Is it maybe hot chocolate or mulled wine? Personally, what I love the most these days is just how... peaceful it is in a way? Despite living in a relatively big city, even the weekends feel just a bit less crowded. I know it will change as the time comes to buy presents and stuff, but it's nice. We also had our first snow a while back and though it's all gone now, it was magical! I'll share a fun story though because I think a few of us will crack a smile at it: I'm famous for not having winter clothes (last year I often went out in my regular stockings!) This year, I decided to do better because I'm already sick quite often, but I could NOT find boots that I liked. The day of the snowfall, I left the house in sneakers (skies were still clear). I went into the shop, FINALLY found a pair of really pretty boots. Put them on after buying them, only to walk out into SNOW. I was VERY thankful for buying the boots there and then! (if you have any silly anecdotes about the season, don't hesitate to share them!)