Winning Bid on Freelance Job Sites

Maximizing Your Potential at Guru.com And Elance.com

Freelance job sites such as Guru.com and Elance.com are flooded with freelancers just like yourself who are looking for jobs in various fields. The competition is fierce when hundreds of applicants bid on one particular project and the employer is faced with a huge decision. In order to write winning bids on freelance job sites, you must know how to attract attention to your bid.

1. Don't Use a Standard Template
No matter how you write it, employers will know if you use a standard bidding template rather than writing individual responses to different projects. Although you might want to include much of the same information -- especially if you only apply to one specific type of freelance job -- you'll want to gear your response to the particular employer. This shows not only that you read the bid, but that you take the time necessary to show you are interested.

2. Comment On Statements in the Bid
This second tip goes hand-in-hand with the first. Not only should you write individual bids on freelance job sites, but you should also comment on the specifics of the job in question. For example, if you are a freelance writer and the project is for writing 40 articles, you'll want to give an estimated turn-around time for 40 articles. This shows that you read the bid carefully and that you are interested in taking on that specific project.

3. Address the Employer by Name
Some employers on freelance job sites will sign their name at the bottom, while others won't. If they do put their name, start your bid with Dear ____. Personalizing your bids on Guru.com and Elance.com will show that you are interested not only in projects, but in the people behind the projects. Wouldn't you be more inclined to offer a job to someone who addressed you by name rather than Hey You?
Many of the employers on freelance job sites give too little information, which should prod you to ask questions to learn more before you actually bid. If you are just bidding on whatever jobs flood your inbox, employers will realize that you aren't discriminating about who you work for or the types of jobs you'll do. For example, if an employer on Guru.com doesn't specify the word count on an article he needs, send him a message asking for the word count before you place your bid.

4. Follow Up
I noticed a dramatic increase in job offers when I started following up on my bids. Two or three days after I submit a bid, I send the employer a private message that thanks him or her again for considering my bid and asks if they would like any further information about me. This will encourage the employer to check out your bid again and to seriously consider your offer.

5. Direct the Employer to Your Website
One of the biggest mistakes you can make on freelance job sites is failing to post the link to your website or CV. Get the employer interested in your bid by encouraging him or her to learn more about you. Recommend that the employer visit certain pages on your site to get a feel for your talents and ask that he or she e-mail you with any questions.
With all of the different service providers on freelance job sites, it's a wonder that anyone makes any money. But you can make your bid stand out above all the rest by following the tips above.

By Steve Thompson, published Mar 04, 2007
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/158167/how_to_write_a_winning_bid_on_freelance.html?page=2&cat=31

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Accredited online degrees

Making money in elance - IS this True?

Inside Elance: Thirteen Writers Explain Why Elance Works for Them


by Shelley Wake


Browsing through the writing projects at Elance, one thing stands out. It’s the “Recent Earnings” figures listed with each bidder’s name. These aren’t fake figures – these figures show what real writers have been able to earn and
they range from $1000 to $60,000.

If some writers are making $60,000 a year, then Elance looks like a great opportunity for writers. Yet, a lot of the
talk is against Elance. People say that it’s unfair that they charge writers fees, that you won’t get paid what you’re worth, and that the bidding process pushes the value of services down. Is there truth in that?

To find out and to get an inside look at Elance, I found people earning good money on Elance and asked them a few questions. Here’s what they had to say.

Is there money to be made?

Ryan, Copywriter – “It’s a full-time income.”
I’ve made $40,000 this year through Elance. And I’ve made about the same again from Elance clients referring me to others. If you’ve got ability, there is definitely money to be made.

Sally, Children’s Writer – “I’m making $1000 a month.”
I average about $1000 a month through Elance. There is more to be made, but I limit myself to about one project a week so I can concentrate on my novels.

Gerard, Freelance Writer – “I’m working my way up.”

At the moment, I’m making about $500 a week. I started out making about that a month. But the more I learn which projects are worth taking and how to win them, the better I’m getting. My plan is to work my way up to $2000 a week.
Are the fees worth it?

Raymond, Copywriter – “There’s a cost to doing business.”
If you’re working for yourself, then you’re a business. And starting any business is going to have some costs. As a writer, I can’t make a cent unless I can find clients. For $30 a month, Elance puts them all in front of me. That’s a worthwhile investment in my business.

Angela, Proofreader – “The cost of finding work.”
When I think of the time it would take me to search for good clients, I think Elance is a bargain. To get the volume of work I’m getting, I’m sure it would cost me far more than $30 a month. Elance does that job for me and consistently delivers quality clients.


Damien, Copywriter – “It’s a no-brainer.”
Yes, I pay a few fees. But I make around $50,000 a year. And the process of completing jobs and getting
paid for the work is professional and simple. Of course, the fees are worth it.

Are the fees unfair?

Steve, Freelance Writer – “Higher fees, higher pay”
I was there in the beginning when Elance was a free service where you didn’t have to pay to bid. I watched as all kinds of people started bidding and pushed the quality way down. I watched the bids slide to ridiculously low
levels. I wasn’t happy when they decided to charge a subscription fee. But I stuck around and rode it out. Since then, the quality of bidders has increased so much that you can bid for a project and get paid what it’s worth. Everyone
there is professional and paying to be there, so there are no unprofessionals bidding $5 and ruining it for everyone. I may be paying $30 a month to bid, but the amount I get for a project has increased by at least that much. The higher
pay more than makes up for the fee.

Racquel, Editor – “Quality Clients.”
I understand that what Elance did was a business decision. They knew that the money was in attracting quality clients. But they couldn’t do that unless they first fixed the quality of the writers. The fee sorted out the serious professionals from the rest. Once they had quality writers, they worked on attracting quality clients. I’ve completed a few projects through free bidding sites and seen the difference. So I think the fee is actually a good thing.

Sean, Freelance Writer – “A team of people working for me.”
I don’t think of it as a fee to get work. I think of it as paying a whole team of people to bring me work. That’s basically what the money provides me with. And I figure that’s a very small price to pay. Is it a good place to find work?

Evan, Freelance Writer – “They attract the right kind of clients.”

There are a lot of free sites around. The problem is that as well as making it easy for freelancers to bid, they also make it easy for project owners. They focus on attracting clients with promises of cheap services. You can bid for free, but the clients they attract are looking for a service at a rock bottom price. I’ve tried them all and Elance and Guru are the only two where I’ve found good clients and been able to get a reasonable amount of money for my work.

Jessie, Writer/Translator – “They find the clients for you.”
The toughest part of my job is trying to find people who need my services and then convince them to pay me. If you seek them out, it starts off bad because it puts them in the driving seat. With Elance, I just get to sit there and wait for people to come to me.

John, Copywriter – “They reduce the competition.”
The best thing for me is that the competition for each job gets reduced to a reasonable level. Do you know how hard it is to win a job that’s advertised on the Internet when 2000 people apply for it? On Elance, I’m often competing with just 10 other people. And with great feedback and a great proposal, I average winning about 1 in 3 projects.

Maree, Ghostwriter – “A great place to find major projects.”
I only like working on major projects. These projects are worth up to $10,000. Elance is the only place where
I’ve been able to find clients willing to pay this kind of money. At all the other sites, I’ve only been able to find people who want an entire book ghostwritten for $100. Plus, Elance’s payment process makes it safe to complete
projects worth this much money.

Do you have any advice for people considering working via Elance?

Sean, Freelance Writer – “Get great feedback.”
Every client that you work with will give you feedback. Your next clients will see that feedback and it’s a big deciding factor for them. Don’t risk your reputation by taking jobs you might not be able to complete. Even if you have to wait a while for the right project to come along, wait and take projects that you know you can do. Then make sure you do everything right and get great feedback. Once you’ve done it once, your feedback will have you winning the next projects a lot faster.

Angela, Proofreader – “Let the work build.”

Take it slow and don’t panic. Take projects that you know you can do, and don’t rush into applying for them all just because you want work. Wait for the right one to come along. Project bidding is often slow to start. But one project leads to two, two leads to four, four leads to eight and so on. Just accept the slow start and let the work build, learning as much as you can on the way.

Ryan, Copywriter – “Don’t drop your prices.”
If you’re not winning projects, don’t panic and start dropping your prices. Keep your prices reasonable, but don’t think that a lower price will make the difference. A lot of clients on Elance are looking for quality. If your price is considerably lower than everyone else’s, you stand out as cheap. And that doesn’t suggest quality.

Jessie, Writer/Translator – “See what the winners are doing.”
For every project you don’t win, read through the bids and see who did win it. If the bid details are public, you can
read exactly what their proposal said and what they charged. Then use this information to make your next bid stronger.

Ryan, Copywriter – “Winning
projects is a skill and it will take time to learn it.”
Don’t assume that it’s easy. I’ve seen a lot of people sign up for one month, not win a project, quit Elance, and then tell everyone that it’s a scam. The truth is that winning projects and completing them is a skill as important as the ability to write. You have to take the time to learn the skill.

The Conclusion
For the people making good money on Elance, it is a good opportunity and the fees are worth what they get in return. This suggests that Elance is at least worth a look.

The next bid of good news is that you can take a look for free. Just sign up for a free account at Elance, which they
call a “Courtesy Listing.” Your profile will be able to be viewed by potential clients and you can browse through the projects available. Then if you find a few projects that you think you can win, you can upgrade to a paid account. For
$5 a month, you can bid for 3 projects. For $12 a month, you can bid for 80 projects. Or for $30 a month, you can bid for 120 projects.

If you think it’s worth a look, visit Elance to find out more.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shelley Wake: Take your freelance career to the next level with “The Freelance Success Book Series.” These books contain inside advice direct from clients, project managers, employers, editors, and successful writers. Visit the Writing Stuff site to read all about it.
http://wwfw.c.topica.com/maadtd9abgD1laaaaaacafpMBT/

Why - How - Elance Works for you

Inside Elance: Thirteen Writers Explain Why Elance Works for Them


by Shelley Wake


Browsing through the writing projects at Elance, one thing stands out. It’s the “Recent Earnings” figures listed with each bidder’s name. These aren’t fake figures – these figures show what real writers have been able to earn and
they range from $1000 to $60,000.

If some writers are making $60,000 a year, then Elance looks like a great opportunity for writers. Yet, a lot of the
talk is against Elance. People say that it’s unfair that they charge writers fees, that you won’t get paid what you’re worth, and that the bidding process pushes the value of services down. Is there truth in that?

To find out and to get an inside look at Elance, I found people earning good money on Elance and asked them a few questions. Here’s what they had to say.

Is there money to be made?

Ryan, Copywriter – “It’s a full-time income.”
I’ve made $40,000 this year through Elance. And I’ve made about the same again from Elance clients referring me to others. If you’ve got ability, there is definitely money to be made.

Sally, Children’s Writer – “I’m making $1000 a month.”
I average about $1000 a month through Elance. There is more to be made, but I limit myself to about one project a week so I can concentrate on my novels.

Gerard, Freelance Writer – “I’m working my way up.”

At the moment, I’m making about $500 a week. I started out making about that a month. But the more I learn which projects are worth taking and how to win them, the better I’m getting. My plan is to work my way up to $2000 a week.
Are the fees worth it?

Raymond, Copywriter – “There’s a cost to doing business.”
If you’re working for yourself, then you’re a business. And starting any business is going to have some costs. As a writer, I can’t make a cent unless I can find clients. For $30 a month, Elance puts them all in front of me. That’s a worthwhile investment in my business.

Angela, Proofreader – “The cost of finding work.”
When I think of the time it would take me to search for good clients, I think Elance is a bargain. To get the volume of work I’m getting, I’m sure it would cost me far more than $30 a month. Elance does that job for me and consistently delivers quality clients.


Damien, Copywriter – “It’s a no-brainer.”
Yes, I pay a few fees. But I make around $50,000 a year. And the process of completing jobs and getting
paid for the work is professional and simple. Of course, the fees are worth it.

Are the fees unfair?

Steve, Freelance Writer – “Higher fees, higher pay”
I was there in the beginning when Elance was a free service where you didn’t have to pay to bid. I watched as all kinds of people started bidding and pushed the quality way down. I watched the bids slide to ridiculously low
levels. I wasn’t happy when they decided to charge a subscription fee. But I stuck around and rode it out. Since then, the quality of bidders has increased so much that you can bid for a project and get paid what it’s worth. Everyone
there is professional and paying to be there, so there are no unprofessionals bidding $5 and ruining it for everyone. I may be paying $30 a month to bid, but the amount I get for a project has increased by at least that much. The higher
pay more than makes up for the fee.

Racquel, Editor – “Quality Clients.”
I understand that what Elance did was a business decision. They knew that the money was in attracting quality clients. But they couldn’t do that unless they first fixed the quality of the writers. The fee sorted out the serious professionals from the rest. Once they had quality writers, they worked on attracting quality clients. I’ve completed a few projects through free bidding sites and seen the difference. So I think the fee is actually a good thing.

Sean, Freelance Writer – “A team of people working for me.”
I don’t think of it as a fee to get work. I think of it as paying a whole team of people to bring me work. That’s basically what the money provides me with. And I figure that’s a very small price to pay. Is it a good place to find work?

Evan, Freelance Writer – “They attract the right kind of clients.”

There are a lot of free sites around. The problem is that as well as making it easy for freelancers to bid, they also make it easy for project owners. They focus on attracting clients with promises of cheap services. You can bid for free, but the clients they attract are looking for a service at a rock bottom price. I’ve tried them all and Elance and Guru are the only two where I’ve found good clients and been able to get a reasonable amount of money for my work.

Jessie, Writer/Translator – “They find the clients for you.”
The toughest part of my job is trying to find people who need my services and then convince them to pay me. If you seek them out, it starts off bad because it puts them in the driving seat. With Elance, I just get to sit there and wait for people to come to me.

John, Copywriter – “They reduce the competition.”
The best thing for me is that the competition for each job gets reduced to a reasonable level. Do you know how hard it is to win a job that’s advertised on the Internet when 2000 people apply for it? On Elance, I’m often competing with just 10 other people. And with great feedback and a great proposal, I average winning about 1 in 3 projects.

Maree, Ghostwriter – “A great place to find major projects.”
I only like working on major projects. These projects are worth up to $10,000. Elance is the only place where
I’ve been able to find clients willing to pay this kind of money. At all the other sites, I’ve only been able to find people who want an entire book ghostwritten for $100. Plus, Elance’s payment process makes it safe to complete
projects worth this much money.

Do you have any advice for people considering working via Elance?

Sean, Freelance Writer – “Get great feedback.”
Every client that you work with will give you feedback. Your next clients will see that feedback and it’s a big deciding factor for them. Don’t risk your reputation by taking jobs you might not be able to complete. Even if you have to wait a while for the right project to come along, wait and take projects that you know you can do. Then make sure you do everything right and get great feedback. Once you’ve done it once, your feedback will have you winning the next projects a lot faster.

Angela, Proofreader – “Let the work build.”

Take it slow and don’t panic. Take projects that you know you can do, and don’t rush into applying for them all just because you want work. Wait for the right one to come along. Project bidding is often slow to start. But one project leads to two, two leads to four, four leads to eight and so on. Just accept the slow start and let the work build, learning as much as you can on the way.

Ryan, Copywriter – “Don’t drop your prices.”
If you’re not winning projects, don’t panic and start dropping your prices. Keep your prices reasonable, but don’t think that a lower price will make the difference. A lot of clients on Elance are looking for quality. If your price is considerably lower than everyone else’s, you stand out as cheap. And that doesn’t suggest quality.

Jessie, Writer/Translator – “See what the winners are doing.”
For every project you don’t win, read through the bids and see who did win it. If the bid details are public, you can
read exactly what their proposal said and what they charged. Then use this information to make your next bid stronger.

Ryan, Copywriter – “Winning
projects is a skill and it will take time to learn it.”
Don’t assume that it’s easy. I’ve seen a lot of people sign up for one month, not win a project, quit Elance, and then tell everyone that it’s a scam. The truth is that winning projects and completing them is a skill as important as the ability to write. You have to take the time to learn the skill.

The Conclusion
For the people making good money on Elance, it is a good opportunity and the fees are worth what they get in return. This suggests that Elance is at least worth a look.

The next bid of good news is that you can take a look for free. Just sign up for a free account at Elance, which they
call a “Courtesy Listing.” Your profile will be able to be viewed by potential clients and you can browse through the projects available. Then if you find a few projects that you think you can win, you can upgrade to a paid account. For
$5 a month, you can bid for 3 projects. For $12 a month, you can bid for 80 projects. Or for $30 a month, you can bid for 120 projects.

If you think it’s worth a look, visit Elance to find out more.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shelley Wake: Take your freelance career to the next level with “The Freelance Success Book Series.” These books contain inside advice direct from clients, project managers, employers, editors, and successful writers. Visit the Writing Stuff site to read all about it.
http://wwfw.c.topica.com/maadtd9abgD1laaaaaacafpMBT/

Elance- Freelance Make Money - Basics

How To Make Money Online With Elance
By James Burchill Do you write? Can you string together words and sentences like this? Would you like to make a few extra bucks (maybe more...) without the hassles of a traditional job? You would? Then welcome to the wonderful world of freelance writing on Elance.

-- What is Elance?

Elance is a website forum, a marketplace that allows people from all over the world to actively participate in buying and selling their products and services. As a freelance writer you can offer your writing services with very little effort on your part. If you can surf the web, use email and generally communicate in English (yup, its the principal language used on Elance) then you are pretty much good to go.

-- How Does It Work?
Its quite simple; Elance is a subscription based website that charges you a small fee to become a member. At the time of writing basic monthly subscriptions begin at $30. Once youre registered you can browse all the active (open) projects and bid on the ones that interest you. As a member you can even set up a personal store front (profile) and showcase your products and services to potential buyers (and its not unusual to get direct enquiries from buyers this way.)

-- If Your Bid Is Chosen
If your bid is selected you will get the chance to decide if you want to proceed with the project or not. If you decide to go ahead then you and the buyer enter into an agreement (Elance provides templates and samples at no charge.) You provide the services to the buyer and the buyer pays you what they promised simple.
Elance gets a small commission on all projects that are awarded. But dont worry, there is no cost to you for winning projects thats the buyers responsibility and the buyer will be billed directly (it doesnt even come out of the agreed project payments!)

-- So How Much Work Is Available To You?
Thats a good question; after all if you are going to spend at least $30 a month on a basic subscription, you really need to figure out if the subscription is worth it. The number of open projects varies, however its not unusual to find between 150 and 200 writing projects available at any given time.

-- And How Much Are These Projects Worth?
There are currently two types of project postings on Elance: BASIC and SELECT. If you have only chosen a basic membership then you can only bid on Basic projects.
You will need a Select membership to bid on the select projects.And the reason you would buy a select membership is simple select projects pay more, are less likely to end without being awarded (yes there are people on Elance who post projects to get a feel for the marketand have no intention of actually awarding the project!)

So back to the main question how much are the projects really worth?
Again, this data varies over time (I cover this and more in my new report on www.ElanceExposed.com), however heres a quick rule of thumb that Ive found to be fairly accurate: If you multiply all the number of open projects by $250 and multiply that again by 70% you will get a fairly good idea. For example, 200 open projects X $250 X 70% = $35,000


-- But What About the Big Projects?
There are big projects on Elance, they get posted infrequently but they are available. As you might imagine these projects are usually posted by companies not people and they usually pay 5 to 10 times what a regular project pays. With this kind of payout you can imagine the competition is quite high, however pitching to a business is not the same as pitching to a person.

>-- What About Gotchas And Other Issues?
There arent too many. The biggest one that springs to mind is that Elance currently does not offer a refund policy on their subscriptions. You actually have to get on board and sign up to get a feel for the Elance market. And to be quite frank, you really need to give yourself a fighting chance and sign up for three months.If you signed up for a three month Select membership you would currently pay $150 USD. Thats not a huge amount of money, but it is a bit steep if you find out that Elance is not for you.

-- Here Are a Few Elance Quick Facts:

• 100,000+ potential buyers visit Elance Online every week


• Web's #1 consulting site and top 1,000 most visited site


• Awarded Best of the Web by Forbes (2003)


• Reliability Certified by the Better Business Bureau

-- And Here Are a Few Neat Benefits of Using Elance

• Easily market yourself to a global pool of prospective clients.


• Pitch your services at prices you establish.


• Make a profit as an independent consultant.Its true, thousands of service firms and individuals take advantage of Elance as a marketing channel. And Elance actively supports your efforts with aggressive online and offline marketing delivering high volumes of traffic.

-- Remember, You Can Win Work 3 Different Ways:

• Answer the phone after people check out your online profile and work samples.


• Develop pre-priced buy now packages that buyers can purchase instantly.


• Bid on projects many buyers post their requirements directly online.

-- Conclusion
Before you dive into Elance you might want todo some digging on the Internet to get a feel for what others have experienced. For instance you might want to find out more about the bid success ratios, the real differences between Basic and Select projects, how many projects will pay you more than $1,500 and so forth.

You can make money on Elance if you know what you are doing, and quite frankly all it takes is a little time and patience. Good luck, and happy bidding!JAMES BURCHILL is an experienced Internet Marketing & Business Development specialist providing strategic and tactical solutions to select clients seeking to architect their on and off line marketing success. James is a published author, a passionate advocate of technology and the Internet, as well as an avid study of classical advertising and marketing strategies.


Prior to establishing his own unique consulting practice, he served as VP of Professional Services and VP of IT & Consulting and implemented multi-million dollar solutions for Oracle, the British and US Governments, Rolls Royce UK and many others. James taught Computer Science at one of Toronto's leading colleges and continues to coach private clients on a select basis. For more information visit James' Elance site at http://elance-exposed.jamesburchill.com or checkout his main website at http://www.jamesburchill.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Burchill

How to make money in Elance - Waiting for the answer

Day 6 to Day 12

May be the most existing or the boring part can be the wait for the reply from the client. In my experience you can expect only 1 response out of 5 leads.
So the basic idea is to pitch your sales by your proposal.
Here is some quick tips on how to stand apart from the other provider.

1. Put effort on making your profile
2. Put your strength, let the client feel that you can really deliver some real value rather than just some solution to the client.
3. Be specific when you are applying for the project. There is no point to repeat how big you are and how many fortune clients you handled. This is the place where you can let the client know how you are going to handle this project, relevant experience and your ideas.

And then .. back to the main topic. Waiting for the client to get back to you.
There is nothing a lot you can do at this time. You can consider only 30% is the real buyer in Elance. So if you try to check the ratings and track records of the buyers will be a good idea to keep your valuable connect.
If may be a good and useful idea is to connect the buyer using PMB. But please do not write .. once again a generic mails like
1. When you are going to award this project?
2. Are you still there?
3. Do you really want to do this project?

These kind of communication will never help you. Instead try to have some professional conversation like

1. i got one idea which may help you to do this project in a better way...
2. I guess if you don't start the project now then it may put you in a time pressure later.....

These kind of conversations really ring the bells and you may be able to connect the missing link sometimes..

How to make money in Elance - My first bid

I decided to do something by my own for long time.
So I took the initiative to do something positive instead of just drinking around in the bars of Tokyo and spending time in the net by just browsing or chatting with my friends.

Day 1 to 5
Strategy
1. Elance is a rough place. There are people always there who will work for less and will work better than you.
2. Focus on what can make money for you. If you are a software engineer it is not necessary to go for the software project. You can find something which you may have interest and you think you can provide more value than the band wagon.

My Way
I decided to concentrate on Japanese translation projects.The resons are
1. This category is one the highest paid category in Elance.
2. There is not a lot of outsource for japanese translation.
3. After being in Japan for 7 years I got good contacts of Japanese who will not mind to work from home to earn few extra bucks.
4. I also decided not to take any paid membership in Elance.
5. I created my profile in Elance and put a lot of emphasis in the profile creation itself as that is going to be my first sales pitch to the prospective clients.

I started to look at the project and selected 3 to bid. I put a good amount of personal touch while bidding while also be detailed.

Lets see whether I can get something out of this or not