Updated May 2020
As a freelance writer who works from home, I love the flexibility that Fiverr offers. I gave the platform a chance a few years ago, and I’m so glad I did! Â It’s easy to use, offers me protection as a seller, and lets me set my own rates so I’m not working for pennies. I highly recommend it for freelancers, whether you’re also a writer or are looking to offer other skills to earn income from home, like graphic design.
For a more in-depth look at the site, you can read my review of Fiverr here!
Ready to find out how to make money on Fiverr? Here are my 10 best tips to help you start earning:
1) Over-deliver on your first handful of orders
Yes, as you are getting your profile established on Fiverr, you do have to take orders for $5. However, this only lasts a short time. The key is to get great feedback from your first few buyers so that you demonstrate that you are capable and competent. There are a lot of sellers on the platform, but if you deliver a quality product and offer good service, you’ll stand out quickly.
Go out of your way to get that positive feedback so that you can build your reputation and boost your profile. You’ll be able to set your rates higher in no time at all. The way to do so is to communicate quickly and clearly. Answer inquiries fast and don’t take on projects that you don’t really want to do or aren’t sure if you can do well.
2) Don’t entertain potential buyers who give you a bad vibeÂ
If you think that they’ll be difficult to work with, you’re probably right. I made the mistake once of taking an order from a buyer who rejected my initial quote. Instead, he went ahead and placed a smaller order anyway, and then proceeded to leave me less than stellar feedback. I knew that he wasn’t going to be happy from the get-go, and unfortunately, I was right. Now I’m not afraid to decline and let people know if I don’t think we’re a good fit.
It isn’t worth it to stress yourself out over a single order. Just politely decline, and move on. There is always another buyer out there who is ready and willing to pay for quality service.
3) Always aim for Custom Orders
On a few of the gigs that I offer, I pretty much only work with custom offers. This means that I tell potential clients right in my gig description that they must contact me first for a quote. I can then review the project and give them my price. Obviously, you want custom offers because they pay you your desired rate.
4) Handle all correspondence professionally
This should go without saying, but you always want to handle correspondence on Fiverr in a professional manner, just as you would via email with other clients. For some reason, there are buyers and sellers who seem to carry themselves in a very unprofessional way, and I think a lot of that has to do with the anonymity that Fiverr allows. If you want to be taken seriously by great buyers, put your best face forward.
5)Â Set your rates as you would with any client
Fiverr is a platform to build your client base. Don’t be fooled- just because it’s called Fiverr, that does not mean that you have to work for only $5! Your goal is to make money as you would in any other situation, so maintain your freelancing rates and price accordingly. Remember that Fiverr gets a 20% cut, so factor that in when giving a buyer a quote.
6)Â Communication is key
The Fiverr platform makes it very easy to exchange messages with clients, which is great. I always ask buyers to give me as many details as possible, in terms of what they would like to see in the final result. Don’t be afraid to do a little back and forth to ensure that you and the buyer are on the same page, just as you would with any client. This will lead to a happy client, positive feedback, and hopefully a long-term business relationship!
Another communication tip- never entertain customers who ask you to communicate outside of the Fiverr platform. It’s a violation of the terms of service and will cause you to lose your account. Don’t break the rules just because a potential buyer pressures you- they are not worth it!
7) Use client requests to come up with new gig ideas
As you start taking orders, you’ll find out what other types of related services your buyers are seeking. This will allow you to come up with new ideas that you can offer. Cross promoting your gigs will help you to boost sales, and you can become the go-to seller for buyers.
On Fiverr, you can offer all kinds of services, so you have to find what works best for you. Try different gig ideas to see what you enjoy the most and what buyers respond to. You really never know what’s going to be successful until you jump in and get started!
8)Â Use a real photo of yourself in your profile
Buyers have to weed through tons of gigs and profiles to find great sellers. I know, because I’ve spent too much time trying to find worthwhile sellers for myself, only to end up frustrated.
You can help boost your profile by using an actual picture of yourself, rather than some random stock image, as many people do. When potential buyers can see the real person behind the gig, it helps them to feel confident in working with you.
9) If buyers leave good feedback, return the favor!
Buyers have the opportunity to rate their experience once the order is completed. It is essential to gain positive feedback because you get a percentage rating associated with your profile. Most people won’t even entertain sellers who have feedback lower than 95%, so you want to earn and maintain 100%.
When a buyer leaves you feedback, be sure to return the favor and say something positive about them, as well. It can help bring in repeat orders in the future. Building up those repeat buyers will help keep your orders coming in steadily.
10) Have fun with it!
One of my favorite things about Fiverr is that I can come up with new gigs and tweak existing ones to maximize earnings while enjoying what I do. I truly love being able to help people with their website content, and I’ve been able to offer more related services to expand my business.
I no longer think of myself as just a freelance writer, but also a content strategist, because I’m helping clients build and grow their sites with quality content. I am so glad that I gave Fiverr a chance and now have it as another useful tool in building my online income.
Do you offer any services on Fiverr?
I’ve wanted to start selling on Fiverr for a while now but I literally have no idea what service I could sell. I’m a writer and editor for my 9-5 job so I thought maybe doing something like that?
I currently do not use Fiverr, and honestly until recently did not even realize you could offer services for MORE than $5. I think it’s a great site for freelancers, but I’m curious how much trouble they have had expanding their user base because of people like me who in their ignorance think it’s a site where you can only buy and sell services for $5.
Great tips here, Lauren, and I’m glad you’ve had such success with the site. I think Odesk and Elance worked similarly – people complained about low rates, but once in a while, they were able to find great clients through them. Eventually, they found enough recurring work they didn’t need to rely on the sites anymore. I think it’s a great way to build a portfolio if you’re just starting out, and like you said, hopefully the less professional people keep work flowing in your direction.
We use Fiverr all the time. We’ve never been on the selling end though. I think it is an awesome idea and what you get for your money is a great deal.
Great tips! I’ve used Fiverr before to receive a service but I’ve never offered my services on there.
It’s definitely worth a try!
These are great tips Lauren!! I have not thought about putting services on Fiverr; however, I have used it for services a few times and if the people I hired did some of these things, I would absolutely recommend more clients to them and use them more than once. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anyone on Fiverr that I would recommend to someone.
That’s a bummer! I think that’s a big problem with the site- too many people offering low quality services just to make a quick buck. But, it does mean more business for those of us who actually deliver!
I have mixed feelings about fiverr. Even if you do raise your rates, it seems many things are below industry rates. What kinds of things are you doing? I guess it depends how long or difficult something is to do. There are some services I can’t believe people give away for such little money and it kind of does a disservice to our entire industry and drives all our rates down. At the same time, if there is something I need done personally and don’t have a budget (I don’t) that’s the first place I look. So I’m torn…
I know a lot of people have these concerns. I offer writing services, as well as web content related services, and I obviously feel that I am getting a fair rate. I think the problem is that there are so many people willing to work for pennies on there, but there are also people like me who use it as another platform to get our names and services out there. The work I do for buyers on Fiverr is exactly the same as what I would do if I were seeking out these clients on my own. The benefit to me though is that they find me, rather than vice-versa.
There’s a big misconception that you have to work for pennies because it’s called fiver, and because there are so many people from other places willing to “work” for next to nothing. That simply isn’t true, because there are legitimate, quality buyers who go there looking for someone skilled, and they are absolutely willing to pay. I have only run in to an issue twice with buyers who didn’t like my rates, and they obviously weren’t my target client anyway.