I’ve talked to a lot of writers who have nothing but bad experiences with Elance. This isn’t to say there aren’t bad things that happen, but if you know how to use the system, you can make it work FOR you rather than against you.

Getting Personal With Bidding

The main key to landing bids is how you place your bid! DUH! No seriously, bids should not be approached in a pro forma way, but in a personal way. And for heaven’s sake, use the Private Message Board (PMB) to pitch the potential client. Otherwise all and sundry (read your competition) will know what you said to land the bid.

The personal touch means talking to the person like they are - well - a person and not a client. Even if it means addressing them by their sometimes hilarious nicknames (we won’t go there!) just do it.

For instance if the nickname is a company name, just use it in your pitch. Talk to them like they were across the kitchen table from you swilling coffee. The people behind the call for bids appreciate being spoken to in a personal way. It also shows them you are approachable and know enough about human nature to take the time to personalize your bid.

When you join Elance, one of the first things they tell you is to personalize your bid. Would that more people would listen to that. I’ve read some really atrocious, stilted bids that came across like a bad infomercial. Fake even, more’s the pity. Clients aren’t so stupid that they can’t tell when the bid they get is thrown together.

Perseverance

Never underestimate the power of your bid. No, you won’t get everything you bid on for a variety of reasons: from your bid may be too high, to the client wanted someone with different expertise than you have. That happens. Just keep on bidding.

It takes awhile to get a following built up on Elance, so be prepared to work really hard for a long time. Choose categories you know you can write in and can prove it. Don’t try and wing it or that will show up on your feedback and take your percentage down.

Hidden Penalties

Having said that though, be aware that the price of the project you work on has as much to do with your feedback score as does the actual feedback received from client. More actually. If you work on a $50 project and get super feedback it actually lowers your ratings because the project amount wasn’t very high. Sucks doesn’t it? You bet it does, it means you’re being penalized for working for smaller amounts.

Don’t get me wrong, the Elance system can be your best friend if you work with it to the best of your ability. It has its glitches; for instance you can’t bid less than $50 on a job and there are jobs posted for less than that. You need to be creative to figure out the way to work the system.

Working with escrow bids is another whole can of worms that makes you rip your hair out by the roots. It’s designed to protect the buyer and the writer, but figuring out the milestones, changing terms of the business agreement, and funding milestones becomes a bit like a treasure hunt - one where you don’t always find the prize.

Paying The Price

Be aware too that Elance will charge you a fee between 6.75 percent and 8.75 percent when your project is completed. That is a percentage based on the cost of your project. This seems to be the reason why a great number of freelancers eventually opt to deal with their clients directly and vice versa.

While it makes sense for them to charge a fee, it can certainly cut into the bottom line unless your bottom line runs into the thousands of dollars. When you’re writing and doing it on your own, thousands of dollars takes a long time to become a reality.

Bottom line is? Elance is a good system that has it moments of inexplicable idiocy, but it’s better than anything else out there. Just remember to be personal. It will win you more business, and with some luck good friends who will give you repeat business.

For more information or to just drop by and say hello, Kerrie Spencer can be found hanging out on Elance or Spiritwriters. Feel free to email her on kspencer [at] sasktel [dot] net.

How long do you spend on a query? Do you use a form letter that you simply change up? Any hints on streamlining the process?

I pitch most of my work to those buying web content, and I thought it was worth replying to those questions here.

Streamlining The Query Process

I’ll start with the last question first. I found it essential to streamline the querying process. If you want to win bids, especially when you’re starting out, you have to bid for a lot of work. That means you can’t be writing bids from scratch every time. That’s part of the reason I have an online resume and testimonials, so that I can send potential clients there to look at what I’ve done. (I confess that it’s not as up to date as it should be, but I am working on that.) It also gives me a handy list of links to my work so I can choose the appropriate ones when bidding.

A Matter Of Form

That brings me to the second question - the form letter. Yes, I have a form letter. It contains a paragraph which outlines my experience, a paragraph with examples of the writing I can do, a bid amount, a paragraph with links to my resume and testimonials and an invitation to contact me for more information. That’s the basis of every bid. However, I do change it depending on what I am bidding for. I change the examples and I highlight different parts of my experience.

Starting From Scratch

Sometimes I throw out the form letter altogether and start from scratch. In some cases, that’s because the form letter doesn’t meet the criteria. Some potential clients ask you to bid in a particular way, in which case I do. Sometimes something comes along that I’m so enthusiastic about that I want a fresh start. Only you will know when it’s right to do that. As an example, today someone posted a job about articles on house moving. As a serial mover, I have the personal experience as well as the writing experience and I wanted my bid to reflect that.

Taking Some Time

Allena’s first (or final, depending on how you look at it) question was about how long I spend on a query. Again, that varies. If I have bid template and only need to change a line, then I can have a bid ready in a couple of minutes. If I am starting from scratch and the stakes are high, then I may spend 20 minutes (longer, if I have to include samples or other supporting material). Here’s a tip, though. Whenever you do a bid, query or proposal that you think is really great, save a copy in a bids folder on your computer so that you can use the format again. And make a note of which types of bids work best for you.

It applies one formula for goal setting - the SMART approach - to the task of bidding for and winning freelance writing work. Have a look, and be sure to let me know what you think.

I’ll say up front that I’m not speaking as a bidding expert. In the days when I used to apply for jobs, I used to have a near 100% success rate with landing interviews. Bidding is much harder, in part because the competition is even stiffer. Still, although I get a lot of my work from my other promotional efforts, I’ve managed to win bids when it has really counted. Here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Choose Your Targets Wisely

OK; I’ll admit that the more you bid, the more chance you have of getting a few wins, but there’s no point in bidding for things that you are not qualified for. My most successful bids have been those where I have been able to bid with confidence because:

• I have done that type of work before
• I have published clips I can show
• I know the field well
• I know where to find relevant information

Here’s a recent example. I happened to see a project on GetAFreelancer for someone to write some financial articles. It happened that I had written on this subject for other clients, knew the terminology and knew the sites that would make good sources. That meant that I matched the client’s requirements; all I had to do was prove it.

2. Make A Match

In this instance, the client had a list of points that he needed bidders to address. They related to the subject matter, the keyword requirements, the type of English (UK) and the deadline. My bid addressed all of these issues. Here’s what I said:

I am an expert keyword article writer. I have ghostwritten more than 150 articles on rent back, quick house sales and repossession and I understand both the legal process and how to stop repossession with a quick house sale.

I will provide error free, Copyscape proof rewrites in UK English within the specified deadline. Please see my website (http://sharonhurleyhall.com) for further examples of my work and testimonials from my clients.

My bid is based on a rate of $xx per article, which reflects my expertise in the topic. I look forward to working with you. My rewrite sample is pasted below.

As you can see, my bidding letter was very short. I highlighted:

• my expertise
• my knowledge of the client’s target subject
• his requirements
• additional reasons to hire me
• the rate I required

My bid was a combination of selling myself generally as a writer (establishing my expertise and providing testimonials to support this) and showing how I could meet the client’s needs.

3. Show What You Can Do

Sometimes clients want proof that you can do the job they plan to hire you for. It’s true that sometimes this is a scam, but at other times it’s on the level. You’ll learn to distinguish between the real cases and the BS. I’ve had to provide two samples recently. One was for the bid above; the other was for another site, which said that I would not be paid for the sample, but that I would own the copyright. Under those circumstances, I had no hesitation in writing the sample required. I saw it as an investment, which matured quickly when I got a paying gig.

4. Clarify The Brief

I find it useful to ask a lot of questions up front. Some things may seem small, but in my experience, the more you find out at the start of a project, the more likely it is that you will be able to deliver it successfully. In the GetAFreelancer project, I realised half way through that I would be short one article, so I asked the client if there were any keywords he wanted me to reuse. In fact, I communicated with him throughout the project, whenever I needed clarification. This kept things ticking over smoothly and he was happy at the end.

5. Deliver

Once you’ve followed those four steps, it’s really up to the client. As writers, we are no longer in control. However, once you clinch the deal, then it’s up to you to make it work for you. Deliver what was promised when it was promised and you will get good feedback, referrals and even more work. You’ll also gain the confidence to make more successful bids.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing business,bidding

Getting Started With GetAFreelancer

First of all, let me tell you why it’s taken me so long to get started.The first reason is because I was busy. I’ve hardly had any down time since I started freelancing. The second reason is because many of the projects on that site offer ludicrously low pay. I’m not just talking about 1 cent a word, but far, far less. Just like Guru, Elance and others, it’s an international freelance marketplace and you are competing with people who think that getting $1 for a 500 word article is a good rate.

GAF Gets A Second Chance

So, why did I even bother giving it a second chance? Well, I decided that I needed to bid more to meet my ever increasing income target. Part of my motivation came from participating in the Inkthinker Query Challenge 2008. I figured if I needed to query more then I needed to check out more bidding sites, and I decided to give GAF another chance.

A Quality Project

I happened to log on and see a financial rewrite project that looked promising, so I decided to bid. This wasn’t the usual $1 a rewrite nonsense, but a project from someone who was prepared to pay more for quality. However, there was a snag. I only had the basic membership, which was free. If I wanted to bid for this project I needed gold membership, which is $12 a month. I decided I could afford to invest $12 in my career, paid up by Paypal, and submitted my bid with the required sample. One PM and phone call later, the project was mine.

Making Sure You Get Paid

Now, here’s one place where GAF scores - the escrow system. Once the buyer awarded the project, he placed the agreed funds in escrow, so I knew I would get paid on completion - and I did. But then there was another issue - your first payment from them has a 15 day delay on it (I can’t figure out why). This means that even though the buyer released the funds straight away, it will be another two weeks before I can transfer them to Paypal. That sucks, but at least I know they will pay up straight away for the next project.

Another plus point is that I only have to pay for what I use. When my gold membership expires at the end of February, I won’t bother to renew it until there’s another gold member only project to bid on.

GAF Profile

The profile feature is pretty basic, but probably tells everyone what they need to know. Mine has not been updated since I originally signed up, and I’m sure I could do something to make it more appealing. That said, I’m pleased to have found a decent paying project on what seems to be a low paying site. GAF takes a $1 fee for transferring my funds to Paypal, so all in all, my project expenses are $13. It was worth it.

A Final Tip

Most importantly, I now have that all important client review - and here’s a tip. Even when bidding on multiple sites, there’s nothing to stop you from referring clients to your best positive reviews, no matter where they are located.

Technorati Tags: bidding,getafreelancer,writing business,writing career,freelance writing

Fast forward and what have we got?

* a deal with one company to write bundles of articles
* a deal with another company to write real estate articles
* a deal with a third company to write how to articles
* a contract with a UK company to write property articles
* and two ghostwriting contracts in the last stages of negotiation

The lesson for me is that you should always keep bidding. The more you bid, the better your hit rate is likely to be and the less down time you will have.

Of course, I still need to find time to promote.