Bidding sites – the very term causes some professional freelancers to frown in disdain. But I was introduced to the world of freelancing via Elance and so far have had nothing but great buyers and positive experiences on it. Yes it’s true that if you stay on long enough, there’s bound to be some bad apples in the mix and I’m sure my day of negative/neutral feedback will come (gasp!), but so far I’ve been lucky.
I first joined Elance as part of a company in May 2008. In January 2009 I formed my own account on Elance with a business partner and in July of the same year I went solo. Best decision I ever made! Since then I haven’t looked back. Granted I don’t have a humongous list of projects under my belt yet, but I’m building up my portfolio slowly and steadily, taking on as much work as I can handle at any given time and not over extending myself.
So, here’s in a nut shell, what a savvy freelance businessperson needs to know to start building an online business with Elance:
Invest In Your Freelance Business
There is really no point in wasting time with a free account if you are serious about your business. By all means start out with a free account to test the waters, but when you decide you want to make money at Elance, be willing to invest some first. Small business membership fee costs $20 per month which gives you 40 connects. Connects are used as barter for placing bids on projects. You must buy more connects (at $5 for 10 connects) if you want to place more bids in a given month.
Build A Solid, Credible Profile
Even if you have no or little experience in the marketplace, you can build up your profile page to reflect an honest impression of you as an ethical businessperson. Your profile should contain, at the very least, compelling facts about your expertise, experience, qualifications and skills. Take some skills tests in your designated area – these help you rank higher in search results when buyers are looking for a particular skill. Look into verifying your credentials as this adds some small measure of credibility, but there’s no rush to do this.
Scout Projects Carefully Before Considering Bidding On Them
You want to look at various factors such as: is the project in your specific area of expertise, is the budget appropriate, does the buyer have a good rate of awarding projects, does the buyer have positive feedback from other freelancers who’ve worked with him/her? If the answer to all of the these questions is yes, get to work drafting a proposal for the project.
Never Use Boilerplate Proposals
Write a well thought-out, customized proposal for each project. It’s okay to use a template so long as you customize it for each project. In your proposal, outline why you’re the best fit for the job, what you bring to the project (experience, enthusiasm, etc) and follow up with relevant samples and a closing statement outlining your course of action.
Address The Buyer’s Questions Directly
This shows that you have taken the time to read the project description. Answer both the buyer’s stated questions and his unstated questions by reading between the lines. Does the project require a certain task which he’s neglected to mention? Spell it out, let him know why the task is important, and if it’s menial, how you’d be wiling to do it for no extra charge (e.g. I offer SEO content to all my clients, since it’s easy for me to incorporate it – this way I can offer it up as a value-addition if I feel it will benefit their project)
Get Your Foot In The Door Any Way You Can
It can be really difficult to win that first project on Elance. Many people go months before they land their first project! Don’t let that happen to you. Slash your prices, offer more than you normally would, be extra courteous and extra accommodating to requests to not only snag your first project but also garner positive feedback on your first project. I started at $8/hour and am now up to $20/hour with future rate hikes as my experience (and portfolio) builds up. It’s possible to get well-paying jobs, but you have to be ready to start at the bottom rung of the ladder.
Follow Through
Make sure you do what you’ve written in your communication with the buyer. Make sure all communication is done with the private message boards (which Elance can view in the event of a dispute). Communication takes on magnified importance in a long-distance working relationship so be sure to keep your client informed of the project’s progress at all times.
This list is by no means exhaustive and I’ll be adding to it as my experience builds. What success have you attained using Elance? Do you have any advice to give to newcomers to the world of freelancing in general and Elance in particular? Or are you new to Elance and considering whether you should use it or not? Either way, share your views with a comment below; I’d love to read (and respond) to your thoughts!
Nov 14, 2009Emad:
Thanks for your comment. First off, you did good to get a paid account because you’ll need to be placing many bids before you land your first couple of solid buyers.
Since you say your niche is business writing, I would recommend you take the business writing skills test (if you haven’t already) and try and score above average on that. Take the test as many times and study up on biz writing basics until you get that score.
Next, knock together some writing samples that pertain to the kinds of jobs that you are bidding on. Example: If you bid on business plans, have 2 or 3 varied business plan excerpts as attachments with your bid. This will show a buyer that you have the relevant expertise. (note: It’s a good idea at the start to put together different writing samples and have a portfolio of relevant work ready to show clients when bidding).
Round off your bid by stating why you’re qualified for the work and how you will be able to help the buyer get what he needs. Sound friendly and easy to work with, yet professional.
Give yourself another 2 weeks or so and you should have a few buyers lined up pretty soon with these tactics 
Let me know if you need any further help.
Good luck!
Nov 18, 2009Hi. I have an Elance account and i got myself paid account right away. I didnt regret since i got my 150$ in few days (maybe im little lucky ) . However now it has been 2 months and cant get a real project. I think people rate them-self very low by bidding very low. I have also passed a C++ test among TOP 5%. Now my next strategy is to bid very low for the first 5-7 projects just for the review. What do you think of this strategy?
Nov 20, 2009Hi Nikola,
Congratulations on your top 5% score – thats really great and I’m sure will boost your search rankings when buyers search for that skill!
About bidding very low: its a possible short-term strategy but not one without pitfalls. Very low bidding can cause you to be stuck in the low-balling range for a long time. For example, if a buyer who you bid low for and got the job, needs other work done say a few months down the lane, he’ll be expecting the same low price from you (or even lower) the second time round. Secondly, other buyers perusing your feedback profile will see the typical amounts you have done work at in the past and expect you to bid in the same price range for them too. Therefore, it might be difficult for you to explain to them that you’ve now upped your rates on the strength of the feedback received from them (although it can be done!).
A better strategy might be to first develop a minimum and maximum amount for your bidding strategy and stay within that range, first on the lower end and gradually creeping to the higher end as your Elance portfolio builds. The low end need not be too low so that it falls in the low-balling range, but just low enough to attract some initial clients. Second, it might also be a good idea to let the client know that they’re getting a special reduced price since you’re fairly new to Elance, so that they know and will expect a higher bid price when you’re better established.
For more info, you can check out this post on How to Respond Professionally to a Low-Balling Client
Thanks for your comment and good luck on Elance. Write back to let us know when you land your next project – we’re cheering you on!
Dec 22, 2009Hey Salma, I checked your video on ELance, a nice and inspiring one, I am also an Elancer, doing good amount of business with multiple account and I think that’s the best way to generate more business.
Whatsoever, as a web developer I’ve noticed some problem with your wordpress website header, this is the solution, just ask your designer to paste it in place of the header image :
The border around it will not be visible then.
regards,
Jay
COO | WebInnova
Email: jay@webinnova.co.in
Visit Us: http://www.webinnova.net
Dec 22, 2009img title=”WordPL” border=”none” alt=”WordPL” src=”http://wordpl.net/wp-content/themes/zionn/images/logo.gif”/
Its not allowing me to post html, ask him to add front and trailing tags
Dec 24, 2009Dear Salma Jafri!
I am impressed to see your great success in a short time At Elace. I have account on the service though I am not active on this service. The reason behind is that many months ago, I contacted the support team of the Elace regarding the money transfer service they use to give money to their workers. They replied that they only accept PayPal accounts for money transfer. PayPal does not offer its service in Pakistan. Please guide me about the type of money transfer service you use for getting payments of your work via Elance service.
Regards,
Shameel Qureshi
Dec 31, 2009@ Jay : thank you for the advice. I’m afraid i dont have a designer yet; doing it all myself and learning as I go will try and implement what you’ve suggested – thanks and good luck with your business on Elance and otherwise.
@shameel Qureshi: blog post on this topic coming very soon – it’s a popular request! Stay tuned – you can subscribe to this blog’s RSS feeds or follow me on twitter to get notified when I post up a new article. Thanks for the appreciation!
Feb 3, 2010Great article with some wonderful tips. I have been an Elance provider for over 10 years and have successfully completed over 700 projects. How? By following many of the rules you outline in your article. So, great job.
The only thing I would add is to make sure that you treat your Elance Marketing efforts seriously. For one, you have to create a stellar profile with writing samples. You also have to take your time with individualized proposals that prove why you are the best candidate – not necessarily what the client can do for you. You also have to submit competitive proposals and work hard to exceed high expectations. Lastly, you can’t give up. If you keep losing projects to other bidders, contact the buyer and ask why. Then, learn from your mistakes.
By doing this (and following the tips in your article), providers can succeed.
Kristi
Feb 8, 2010Thank you Kristi for your valuable input. Loving the point about contacting buyers who didn’t award the project to you–I wouldn’t do it for every project, but perhaps once in a while for a project I really thought I was the best suited candidate for, might ask the buyer why he/she didn’t choose me. Should gain some insight into the buyer’s mind with those answers!
Mar 8, 2010I have elance account last three month in admin suppo. But i never win a projects. so please advice me.
Mar 9, 2010Bharat Dabhi: Please send me an email at salma@wordpl.net with your elance username and we’ll take it from there.
Apr 10, 2010Hi Salma.
Hope you are fine. I have just reviewed your article this is really informative for a new user like me. I have recently created account on Elance. I am working from last 7 days. Please advise is it recommended to purchase some plan to bid on projects? Also please advise some tips to make my profile more professional as a new user. Because i don’t have any experience or work to show client? Should i do some sample for for my own to show my clients. I am working in Admin support field.
Looking to your expert response.
Regards,
Fridi
Apr 12, 2010Hi Fridi,
Congratulations on starting your new account on Elance! I can understand the trepidation, especially for a first-time freelancer. Elance has recently increased the number of free connects from 3 to 10, so theoretically you can place bids on 10 projects with a budget under $500 each. Once the bidding time has closed on these projects, and if you haven’t been awarded a project with these initial connects, you’ll need to buy a paid plan – it’ll cost you $10/month to get the professional plan. In my opinion it’s worth it, but some people do get lucky with the free connects. So try your luck and then spend some money if there are no bites.
For a more in-depth look at how you can write better proposals/bids, please check out my series of posts on How to Write Winning Bids & Proposals here http://wordpl.net/index.php/2010/01/from-freelancer-to-entrepreneur/
I cant comment on your profile since you havent provided me a link to your Elance profile, but your bid is the first thing a buyer will read, and only if he’s interested in the bid will he go on to see your profile & other details. Both need to be solid and benefits-oriented for the buyer. Hope this helps.
Good luck!
May 12, 2010I’ve been trying to get work from Elance for months. I’ve tried creating better proposals and offering low prices. I always give them a link to my website so they can see my work. Recently, I added some work to my Elance profile. Any suggestions. My profile is ATLWEBSTUDIO. Thanks.
May 16, 2010Hey Marshall,
Checked out your profile page – there’s a couple of things you can do right away to get your profile page looking ship-shape:
1. Fill out all the details. A complete profile looks professional and indicates to the buyer that you have nothing to hide and willingly provide info about yourself and your business.
2. Re-take the skills tests and post up the results of only those that you score above average on. Elance skills tests have been a subject of huge debate, with some people calling them “useless” and others swearing that those tests are what attract buyers. In either case, its a good idea to take at least a few tests in your relevant category. Elance allows you the option of hiding your test score and I’d recommend you hide the current test you took since the score is below average. Wait out the (I believe) 2 week period, bolster your knowledge in said subject matter and re-take the test. Make public the result only if you achieve a score higher than average.
3. Consider verifying some credentials and adding some references. This is especially crucial for a new provider, since as of yet, buyers have no feedback or job history to vet you with.
4. Consider upgrading to a paid membership to have access to more connects so you can make more bids. At first, mass is key – the more bids you make the higher your chances of scoring on a few.
5. Lastly, remember that buyers look at your profile AFTER reading your bid. So is your bid packing a punch? Be sure to read my series on Writing Winning Proposals (http://wordpl.net/index.php/2010/01/from-freelancer-to-entrepreneur/) if you need some bid writing ideas.
Good luck and let me know when you land your first project!
Jun 28, 2010Hi anyone,
I want to finish my skills tests in elance.com.
Who can do for me.
Best Regards
Aug 20, 2010hey salma,
I’ve seen you on CNBC. i love successful and independent ladies running families and you are one of them. you talked about personal satisfaction and thats what i am looking for. how can i pass elance entry test because i do not know what sort of question these would be? about what they ll be asking me and if i fail once can i retake my test again
9:20 am
I have been trying to get my first project since 5 months. I started with free account but for 2-3 months i have bought connects. I am trying hard but not able to get any project yet.
My expertise is in business writing. I am focusing on business plans.
What do u suggest??