A suggestion regarding blogs with "contact former clients", "ask clients for reviews" tips

[miiila]

I really love to read Fiverr’s blogs, I really do, I read the majority of them, and check more or less regularly for new ones, but Fiverr should really brief the blog writers about some of Fiverr’s realities.

The newest blog goes into “How to make more money off current/past clients”.
#1 contact former clients to offer your service
#2 upsell
#3 ask for reviews

Good stuff … generally.

If you freelance on Fiverr? Not so much, as any regular forum reader is aware of.

Guess what tips #1 and #3 consist of?

Yeah, exactly what it says, #1 is “contact former clients”

(with a “Hi client X” template, I already see many forum readers jubilating, a template, finally someone gets what we need to cover up that we have no plan, or can’t communicate in the platform language, or both)

Oh, and former clients includes 1-time sales, too, imagine how happy some Fiverr customers will be if sellers they bought from one time and will never want to buy from again, contact them, cue the “I got warning for spam” threads.

And #3, ask for reviews, well, you know what that means on Fiverr, see the many related forum threads.

While the end of the blog reveals it was written for not-yet Fiverr sellers (“If you don’t have enough clients yet, sign up on Fiverr”),
we all know that enough people don’t read far enough or thoroughly enough
(“bought your gig by accident, please cancel”, anyone?
And as a regular forum reader, you’ll have developed the notion that there are more users who don’t read the terms/policies than there are who do).

So you want freelancers you just gave those tips to sign up, and then they get their first warning, after applying one of them on Fiverr?

Those kinds of blogs would be the perfect opportunity to put clear and/or even elaborate guidelines regarding whether you may or may not - on Fiverr - contact former clients to offer your services, and to ask for a review, and in what form, if it already isn’t clear enough from the ToS and Help Pages - and it isn’t, as countless forum threads prove.

I really appreciate those blogs but I’ve seen now … three, I think, in the last time, that have tips that can get freelancers in trouble if they apply them on Fiverr.
It might be a good idea to add notes on how contacting former clients, asking for reviews, and such is handled on Fiverr,
or add a disclaimer like "this article is for freelancers in general but if you offer services on Fiverr, following the tips might get you a warning or account suspension, so stay up to date regarding platform policies, read the forum regularly, and proceed with caution …

In case this reads like a rant, I did intend to post it in the Ranting Pot, but perhaps it will be of actual use here, as a suggestion to make it clear in those blogs that you can’t do everything what Fiverr’s blog posts suggest on Fiverr itself.

[humanissocial]

What a weird thing for them to blog about!

Fiverr does a lot of things in their marketing that run contrary to their ToS and embolden sellers to break the rules.

[misscrystal]

This is a great thread.

There needs to be some communication and awareness between the ones who write and post those blogs, and the actual rules sellers have to follow.

There is no reason to leave up a blog that tells sellers to break the rules which, if they actually did what is suggested in the blog, would get them a warning.

That might be a very old blog post.

[cyaxrex]

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Neither is it possible that this was written by anyone who has ever used Fiverr.

There is a platform I work on where buyers buy articles from a bank of pre-written content. This smacks of something you would buy there. I say this as from experience, the editors of that site don’t let users upload anything but generic multi-purpose content.

Now I might be cheeky and write some generic freelancing content to test my theory. 😉

[misscrystal]

A good writer could write up a blog post that is current to replace that one and submit it, one that gives correct suggestions that follow the rules.

hmm, I wonder who would be perfect for that…

[ducktheunicorn]

This is so frustrating. When I was new, I was pouring over the blog and forums while trying to get my bearings for using Fiverr. I know if I saw a tip like that I would try to take it into action if it came from Fiverr and would be livid if I got a warning for it. They really need to get their TOS and blogs all on the same page instead of spreading information that will get their sellers in trouble if they follow their advice.

[cyaxrex]

A good writer could write up a blog post that is current to replace that one and submit it, one that gives correct suggestions that follow the rules.

hmm, I wonder who would be perfect for that…

A good writer could write up a blog post that is current to replace that one and submit it

Great idea. If Fiverr doesn’t want to find and pay a good blog writer, we should all come together as a community to give them free content. All we need now is someone to cast a free motivation spell.

Mmhh… I wonder who could be good for that? :thinking:

[miiila]

This is a great thread.

There needs to be some communication and awareness between the ones who write and post those blogs, and the actual rules sellers have to follow.

There is no reason to leave up a blog that tells sellers to break the rules which, if they actually did what is suggested in the blog, would get them a warning.

That might be a very old blog post.

No, it’s not a very old blog post, I’d not have written this thread then, it’s from yesterday.

blog.fiverr.com – 7 Nov 19

How To Make More Money From Your Current Freelance Writing Clients | Fiverr Blog

Freelance writers rely on a constant stream of assignments to get their business up and running, so what happens when all the work is done? It takes time to find new gigs and clients. However, with the right tips and tricks, you can easily get paying...

[misscrystal]

I got the idea when I was trapped in a conversation with someone who knows a lot about bitcoins that they would be a good blog post writer.

That was just posted? That’s amazing.

It’s a shame we can’t actually do a few of those things mentioned in that blog but it would be called spam and risk a warning.

[cyaxrex]

No, it’s not a very old blog post, I’d not have written this thread then, it’s from yesterday.

blog.fiverr.com – 7 Nov 19

How To Make More Money From Your Current Freelance Writing Clients | Fiverr Blog

Freelance writers rely on a constant stream of assignments to get their business up and running, so what happens when all the work is done? It takes time to find new gigs and clients. However, with the right tips and tricks, you can easily get paying...

No, it’s not a very old blog post,

And the horror is, you can’t even comment to warn sellers not to follow this advice.

I’m sure it used to be possible to comment on the Fiverr blog. Maybe they have already been called out for posting erroneous content?

It might all also be done on purpose, Knowing how harshly Fiverr clamps down on spam and off-Fiverr communication, would be a huge turnoff for freelancers reading the blog and thinking about joining.

[misscrystal]

Maybe that was written by a devious manipulative seller to get rid of other sellers.

[miiila]

No, it’s not a very old blog post,

And the horror is, you can’t even comment to warn sellers not to follow this advice.

I’m sure it used to be possible to comment on the Fiverr blog. Maybe they have already been called out for posting erroneous content?

It might all also be done on purpose, Knowing how harshly Fiverr clamps down on spam and off-Fiverr communication, would be a huge turnoff for freelancers reading the blog and thinking about joining.

I know I could comment on some, then I couldn’t anymore, I tried a few times for a while, then I gave up trying. But there are comments on some of the newer blogs, so, in theory, it seems to be possible.

[misscrystal]

I thought briefly about asking customer support about that post but it probably wouldn’t help. There is probably a totally different department which is responsible for the blog posts that is left alone to do as it pleases.
Fiverr is such a big company now that I’m sure there are departments removed from other departments where there is no cross communication.

I’m grateful to have this forum. It’s the best method of staying abreast of current rules.

[topaz_muse]

The thing that gets me is that there are some blog posts that have comments disabled and these are the ones where more info can be contributed by readers; especially when the info therein is a bit off.

[uk1000]

I think if they had some opt-in thing for buyers to things like that sellers could contact the buyers based on whether and what they’ve opted in to and Fiverr could use that to not give warnings for spam or at least take it into account (eg. a less severe warning if a message is flagged as spam if the buyer has opted in to receive those types of messages from that seller/all sellers - though if they’ve opted in to it the seller shouldn’t get a warning at all and the buyer could really get an option to opt-out if they don’t like the messages maybe).

[mrincredesignz]

Thanks for the post:slight_smile:

[humanissocial]

I thought briefly about asking customer support about that post but it probably wouldn’t help. There is probably a totally different department which is responsible for the blog posts that is left alone to do as it pleases.

Fiverr is such a big company now that I’m sure there are departments removed from other departments where there is no cross communication.

I’m grateful to have this forum. It’s the best method of staying abreast of current rules.

I think you are right.

I was interviewed for a Fiverr blog post all about me and my gigs and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a Fiverr staff member who did it.

Hiring freelancers for blog posts is standard, but personally whenever I’ve done that work, I always get a detailed brief, plus I research who I’m writing to.

[misscrystal]

I think you are right.

I was interviewed for a Fiverr blog post all about me and my gigs and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a Fiverr staff member who did it.

Hiring freelancers for blog posts is standard, but personally whenever I’ve done that work, I always get a detailed brief, plus I research who I’m writing to.

I was interviewed for a Fiverr blog post all about me and my gigs

I got a request for that too and the person wasn’t happy when I declined. Someone wants to “interview” me for something about once a year at least.

I was favorably mentioned in an article about fiverr in the New York Times once and no one wanted to interview me for that .

[humanissocial]

I was interviewed for a Fiverr blog post all about me and my gigs

I got a request for that too and the person wasn’t happy when I declined. Someone wants to “interview” me for something about once a year at least.

I was favorably mentioned in an article about fiverr in the New York Times once and no one wanted to interview me for that .

Interesting. What did they do that indicated they were unhappy about your decline?

And, if you don’t mind my asking, why do you decline?

[misscrystal]

Interesting. What did they do that indicated they were unhappy about your decline?

And, if you don’t mind my asking, why do you decline?

I don’t give interviews. Who was that person? Some stranger sends me a spam message about wanting to “interview” me? First of all they are violating fiverr’s rules. They took offense it seemed like when I said no. It happens now and then that someone wants to do that.

[fastcopywriter]

I don’t give interviews. Who was that person? Some stranger sends me a spam message about wanting to “interview” me? First of all they are violating fiverr’s rules. They took offense it seemed like when I said no. It happens now and then that someone wants to do that.

Some stranger sends me a spam message about wanting to “interview” me?

This happened to me years ago, and it was a journalist who was doing a story about Fiverr. I’m not against interviews, they don’t violate TOS, they give you free publicity. Imagine if 1,000 people read the story and 1% of the readers decide to contact you, that’s 10 possible orders.

[misscrystal]

Some stranger sends me a spam message about wanting to “interview” me?

This happened to me years ago, and it was a journalist who was doing a story about Fiverr. I’m not against interviews, they don’t violate TOS, they give you free publicity. Imagine if 1,000 people read the story and 1% of the readers decide to contact you, that’s 10 possible orders.

This was from a lady in Russia who didn’t introduce herself or fully explain why she wanted to interview me. She had an air of entitlement about it as if she felt I would be flattered and thrilled by her generous offer.

I then felt hostility from her when I turned her down.

I have had enough important jobs and various prestigious things in my life already so it’s not anything I’m interested in no matter who she was.

[humanissocial]

I don’t give interviews. Who was that person? Some stranger sends me a spam message about wanting to “interview” me? First of all they are violating fiverr’s rules. They took offense it seemed like when I said no. It happens now and then that someone wants to do that.

I feel like they want to leverage sellers who speak English well and are professional and successful.

Fiverr wants to improve their image instead of addressing the reasons it is so bad. It is offensive, in a way.

[misscrystal]

I feel like they want to leverage sellers who speak English well and are professional and successful.

Fiverr wants to improve their image instead of addressing the reasons it is so bad. It is offensive, in a way.

She wasn’t with fiverr. Just some random person.

[humanissocial]

She wasn’t with fiverr. Just some random person.

Got it. I was referring to the official Fiverr blog.