My grandfather would have marveled at the idea of finding a gig while scratching one’s butt-cheeks.
As a freelance writer in the 70s, he ran from pillar to post to land his first client, and even his 10th client.
But look at us today, life is easy.
“Clients line up with stacks of moolah in their virtual hands ready to sling-shot at me as soon as I show up online. It’s unreal, I tried to duck, but Benjamin got me in the face every time. Hold a sec, my Paypal notifications are going insane!” ~Generic Fiverr Expert.
These experts have secrets they want us to know, rags to riches stories that they want us to read, tales of glory they want us to live, roads of adventure they want us to take. So, they pull us in with their clickbaitsy title and surprise us with stupendous, marvelous, top-quality, keyword-optimized… fluff.
The truth, however, is this…
Before setting up my Fiverr account, I did a thorough online research. I perused numerous YouTube videos and blog posts that spoke about succeeding on the platform.
I saw a common trend: The narrative was around gaming the Fiverr algorithm, instead of providing quality services. Some suggestions were downright scammy, there was insinuation towards buying fake reviews, misrepresenting information, and blatant lying; all to boost credibility.
Those hacks may work given the translucency around the platform, but I figured out a cleaner way to do it.
Ready for an average Fiverr seller’s story? Here’s the story of my first 3 orders on Fiverr.
How I secured my first order on Fiverr and how it went
Experts suggest that getting the first gig is the toughest part of it all.
But, once you get that one precious gig, more would start to roll in. So much so that you can’t contain the flow.
Is it? Let’s see.
The hunt begins
To set up my profile, I started perusing profiles of content writers who made it.
I dug into the style of their gig images and videos, noted all the keywords they used in their titles, gig descriptions, and implemented those in my gigs.
Next, I created 5 gigs with a variation of keywords, with 3 key intentions:
- Cast a wide net to attract leads with different buyer intentions.
- Note which gig drives the maximum clicks
- Fiverr allows only 2 blog topics per gig, I could offer 10 topics with 5 gigs!
I quoted only 5$ for 800 words.
And then, within a week, I got my first Fiverr message. This is how it went:
They asked for samples of my work. I had no experience writing for the Food and Health industry. I knew I could write quality content for them, but first, I had to secure the gig, so I…
…offered them a free post.
Long story short, the client liked my work and placed an order of 4 more articles.
I delivered the order within 6 days.
Unfortunately, she did not give feedback which I sorely needed. But I was grateful for the work. Fiverr rewards the sellers who have a 5-star rating with better ranking which translates to more gig impressions. This, in turn, increases clicks and orders.
Now that I delivered my first gig, I just had to wait for more to pour in, as the experts suggested.
But alas, I became Samuel Taylor’s ancient mariner stuck in the sea of Fiverr.
Water, water, every where,
Not any drop to drink.
No gig.
Straight for 2 weeks.
I played with the gig description, images, and tags. But I found no riches, only rags. Until…
I secured my second order on Fiverr
I thought I had used up all the beginner’s luck when this gig just dropped in my lap.
The order was from a Real Estate client from Missouri.
It exemplified a perfect order:
- The buyer knew what she wanted
- Answered all my questions
- Accepted the content as is
- Left a 5-star review
I couldn’t ask for more.
But my happiness was short-lived. I faced another drought for 2 weeks straight. And then…
I landed my third order on Fiverr
The client was from the Education sector in India.
Fiverr told me she was placing her first order and I should make her happy. Naively, hoping for more work in future, I offered her a free image and tweet to go with the blog.
She accepted those, and the order with some edits. She really liked my work but gave me a 4.3 rating.
<Rant begins>
There was no reason (known to me) that she won’t give a 5-star rating. I went above and beyond for the order.
I was flummoxed and frustrated.
4.3 is a good rating, but in a sea of sellers, if you have completed just 3 orders, have just 2 reviews, and one of them is not 5-star, you fall back in rankings
</Rant ends>
She later offered to edit the ratings but it was too late by then.
This was the story of my first 3 orders on Fiverr, but it doesn’t end here.
My struggle for the 4th order on Fiverr
The client from India returned with a request to write a 50000 word e-book. Her selection criteria was purely based on the lowest bid.
She knew the quality of my work but she found my quote 600$ unreasonable. On Fiverr, there’s always someone willing to work for cheaper than you. She picked some other writer who took the bullet I dodged.
But since then I have no Gigs. It’s been 3 weeks. I did all the gig edits and image re-designs.
But all in vain.
Buyer requests don’t yield any results anymore.
My next idea is to wait for 4 more weeks before I start paid promotions through Google Ads. Meanwhile, I will continue with keyword research on Fiverr.
Conclusion
If you are a new seller on Fiverr, remember that orders will come to you in any form, from any place. They will hit you when you expect the least.
The idea is to keep optimizing the gig.
Some part of that optimization is logic and research based, but at times you just throw sh*t till it sticks.
It may not be as easy as the experts claim but just keep at it and you will get orders soon.