Four BIG Mistakes To Avoid On Elance

By Greg W. Scott

I definitely stand by Elance as the King Of All Freelancer Sites. I used quite a few and I found it to consistently get me quality jobs. I also like the interface and everything else about it. There are lots of good jobs for writers and you can make money there, but there are 4 huge mistakes lots of ghostwriters make.

Mistake One – The Cut And Paste Bid

Do you ever scroll down and have a look at the other bids listed? They usually say something like, “We’re blah blah professionals with X years experience” and so on and so forth. That’s nice to know, but do they even know what job they’re bidding on? These are Cut And Paste Bids and they don’t look that attractive to buyers.
Just imagine – You post a job with specific information in the posting, and you get 10 people with a generic C and P bid… then, you get one person who has taken the time to READ your posting and actually mention it in their bid!
You should always personalize your bids. Even if you use a template to save time, at least say something about the job you’re bidding on somewhere near the beginning of it. When you personalize your bid, you stand out from the overwhelming majority of other folks out there bidding.

Mistake Two – Underbidding

When you’re first getting started, it’s good to underbid for a few freelance writing jobs. You can get a few under your belt and get a little feedback. But the whole point is that this helps you to bid more for the next job. Once you’ve “paid your dues,” start bidding like you mean it – quickly!
It’s nice because they show you the lowest, highest and average bid. This way, you know where yours sits in the grand scheme of things. But when you’re deciding how much to charge for your services, ignore it. Or if you base your bid on it, make sure it’s above the average. And don’t sell yourself short because you want the job so badly.

Mistake Three – The Blah Profile

A huge number of providers on Elance don’t bother customizing their profile. They want to leap right in and start getting jobs, and they never consider branding. “Branding” sounds like some type of complex marketing thingy, but actually it’s really simple. It means:
- Put up a nice, professional looking picture with you smiling, looking like a person who could write good content. In other words, no hunched-over staring-at-the-camera serial killer pictures, and no pics from the kegger last weekend.
- Tell the client some things you think they should know about you. They don’t care about your cute pet dog or your interest in underwater basket-weaving (unless, of course, underwater basket-weaving is a hot niche where there’s lots of demand for writers!*). Think about the questions they might ask; take some time to brainstorm a list, and write your profile so that it answers them.

Mistake Four – The Profile From Yesteryear

You might want to check your Elance profile occasionally and make sure it’s up to date. Check out the new widgets and tools they’ve got for customizing your profile. There’s always something new. Most of all, update your samples. Don’t use the same ones you used for those first few jobs. Every now and then, give them a read and make improvements; or scrap them and upload new ones.
Which reminds me – I haven’t done that in years! Well, I guess I don’t use Elance that much anymore. And in fact, here’s a fifth mistake people make when using Elance:

Mistake Five – Using Elance Forever

Use Elance to improve your writing skills, get some experience and (of course) earn some cash. In your spare time while you’re keeping busy with all of that, create your own website, learn a little SEO and drive traffic to it. Eventually, you should be getting work through your site and not anybody elses!

Notes
*Underwater basket-weaving is not a hot niche where there’s lots of demand for writers.
For more tips on using Elance, click here >> [http://www.gregscottwrites.com/ghostwriting/how-to-bid-on-elance-for-online-writing-jobs.html]www.gregscottwrites.com. I’m constantly blogging and blabbing about writing for a living, managing your ghostwriting career, getting and keeping clients, and whatever else pops into my head. This article is copyright 2011 by Greg Scott. Anyone may use this article as long as all links in the article and resource box stay active and the article is not altered in any way.
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