Critique my profile and give it to me straight?

[michele_pittman]

Hi everyone.
I’m a writer and I’m new to Fiverr. I’ve had one order so far and I feel as though I’ve read every blog, article, etc on how to create a great profile and gig. I took what I learned and did my best but would love to have an honest critique of my profile/gigs. My profile link is in my forum profile.
Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing.

[andreicosmin1]

I really like the gigs, some of the best for writing content I’ve seen on fiverr; looks really good especially for the prices you’re offering, it does make me feel like I can trust you to provide awesome value for my money.

[michele_pittman]

I really like the gigs, some of the best for writing content I’ve seen on fiverr; looks really good especially for the prices you’re offering, it does make me feel like I can trust you to provide awesome value for my money.

Wow, thank you so much! Being a total novice I keep looking at others’ gigs who offer the same services to see how in line I am with their prices, etc.

I really appreciate the feedback.

[lloydsolutions]

Suggest you remove all references to essays and academic writing from any of your gigs and profile description.

Helping with academic work is against the Terms of Service at the bottom of the Fiverr main page.

Make sure to carefully read the Terms of Service as a violation can risk your account.

[michele_pittman]

Suggest you remove all references to essays and academic writing from any of your gigs and profile description.

Helping with academic work is against the Terms of Service at the bottom of the Fiverr main page.

Make sure to carefully read the Terms of Service as a violation can risk your account.

Thank you! I thought I’d seen that on others’ gigs but who cares? Removing it now. Do you think I should clarify essays since they don’t necessarily have to be academic in nature. For instance, what if I said, narrative essays?

[lloydsolutions]

Thank you! I thought I’d seen that on others’ gigs but who cares? Removing it now. Do you think I should clarify essays since they don’t necessarily have to be academic in nature. For instance, what if I said, narrative essays?

I thought I’d seen that on others’ gigs but who cares?

Check this out: Don’t do it! … You Have Been Warned! for a further explanation as to what can happen.

Suggest you use the word article instead of essay.

[michele_pittman]

I thought I’d seen that on others’ gigs but who cares?

Check this out: Don’t do it! … You Have Been Warned! for a further explanation as to what can happen.

Suggest you use the word article instead of essay.

To clarify, I didn’t mean “who cares” as in “I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway,” I meant “Who cares if they do it, I’m changing mine!”

Good suggestion. Thank you

[lloydsolutions]

To clarify, I didn’t mean “who cares” as in “I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway,” I meant “Who cares if they do it, I’m changing mine!”

Good suggestion. Thank you

“Who cares if they do it, I’m changing mine!”

Good luck! 🙂

[michele_pittman]

“Who cares if they do it, I’m changing mine!”

Good luck! 🙂

[thatwordchick]

Hey @michele_pittman - a warm welcome from a fellow writer here. Let me spare you some struggle!

• Consider dropping your editing gig(s). I totally get wanting to offer a wide range of services, but if you’re doing any amount of rolling up your sleeves, even on a 500-worder, I think if you watch the clock you’ll find you’re spending longer on the fix than you would writing from scratch. It’s almost always a losing bet, profit-wise. You might be an outlier there in terms of effort-to-earning ratio, but if you’re on the fence about it at all, I’d say drop it/them.

• You’re charging too little for a fluent, English, US-based writer. Having all three here is an anomaly (it shouldn’t be, but it is!) and you should charge accordingly. Remember that Fiverr takes a 20% chunk out, so you’re writing a 500 word piece and, when all is said and done, you’re making 1.6 cents a word for your work, and that’s way too low! Double your rates and stick by them. Check my other posts for advice on dealing with pushy clients that want a discount for existing. 😉 Double your rates, then increase them 50% when you make level 1, etc.

• Do not offer “unlimited” anything. To our American eyes, it reads as “a reasonable amount of requests,” but trust me when I tell you that a foreign client is going to take advantage of that. They’re going to take it literally and dangle a bad review over your head to keep you working at ‘improving’ something until you’re practically paying them in effort-to-earning ratio. Decide on a number - I would suggest 1 or 2, emphasizing that you deliver a quality product the first time. Without that restriction in place, you also don’t have a leg to stand on if there’s ever a buyer dispute on Fiverr - they can simply point to the fact you promised “unlimited” revisions and keep the con going.

• You have zero examples of your work on your gigs. What can I expect, as a buyer? All I have to go on is your gig text and your bio, and if neither have anything to do with my job, well…? Take some screenshots of previous work you’re proud of and get them up there!

[michele_pittman]

Hey @michele_pittman - a warm welcome from a fellow writer here. Let me spare you some struggle!

• Consider dropping your editing gig(s). I totally get wanting to offer a wide range of services, but if you’re doing any amount of rolling up your sleeves, even on a 500-worder, I think if you watch the clock you’ll find you’re spending longer on the fix than you would writing from scratch. It’s almost always a losing bet, profit-wise. You might be an outlier there in terms of effort-to-earning ratio, but if you’re on the fence about it at all, I’d say drop it/them.

• You’re charging too little for a fluent, English, US-based writer. Having all three here is an anomaly (it shouldn’t be, but it is!) and you should charge accordingly. Remember that Fiverr takes a 20% chunk out, so you’re writing a 500 word piece and, when all is said and done, you’re making 1.6 cents a word for your work, and that’s way too low! Double your rates and stick by them. Check my other posts for advice on dealing with pushy clients that want a discount for existing. 😉 Double your rates, then increase them 50% when you make level 1, etc.

• Do not offer “unlimited” anything. To our American eyes, it reads as “a reasonable amount of requests,” but trust me when I tell you that a foreign client is going to take advantage of that. They’re going to take it literally and dangle a bad review over your head to keep you working at ‘improving’ something until you’re practically paying them in effort-to-earning ratio. Decide on a number - I would suggest 1 or 2, emphasizing that you deliver a quality product the first time. Without that restriction in place, you also don’t have a leg to stand on if there’s ever a buyer dispute on Fiverr - they can simply point to the fact you promised “unlimited” revisions and keep the con going.

• You have zero examples of your work on your gigs. What can I expect, as a buyer? All I have to go on is your gig text and your bio, and if neither have anything to do with my job, well…? Take some screenshots of previous work you’re proud of and get them up there!

Okay, first, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your honest input. I feel like I’m flying blind here. I’ve never offered my work in this manner.

• Your advice on my editing gig makes a lot of sense. My thought process was “how much can I offer that involves writing?” Thank you for breaking that down.

• Everywhere I looked I read, “don’t charge too much when you’re brand new. Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price.” And I mean everywhere. I like your math, however, and again, makes perfect sense. Thanks for pointing this out one especially.

• Again, in trying to consume everything I could regarding this venture, I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients. But you’ve scared me. 😀 so that perk is coming down for sure.

• This one I was really unsure of. I didn’t know how to execute this. Do I upload a pdf? Do I connect to a story I’ve written? Taking a screenshot is a great idea. So I’m really giving an excerpt of my writing, not a document to peruse, is that what you’re saying?

I’m really grateful that you took the time to look at my profile/gigs and craft such a thoughtful critique.

Thank you!

[thatwordchick]

Okay, first, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your honest input. I feel like I’m flying blind here. I’ve never offered my work in this manner.

• Your advice on my editing gig makes a lot of sense. My thought process was “how much can I offer that involves writing?” Thank you for breaking that down.

• Everywhere I looked I read, “don’t charge too much when you’re brand new. Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price.” And I mean everywhere. I like your math, however, and again, makes perfect sense. Thanks for pointing this out one especially.

• Again, in trying to consume everything I could regarding this venture, I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients. But you’ve scared me. 😀 so that perk is coming down for sure.

• This one I was really unsure of. I didn’t know how to execute this. Do I upload a pdf? Do I connect to a story I’ve written? Taking a screenshot is a great idea. So I’m really giving an excerpt of my writing, not a document to peruse, is that what you’re saying?

I’m really grateful that you took the time to look at my profile/gigs and craft such a thoughtful critique.

Thank you!

My pleasure, friend. Writing has changed my life for the better, within a few years of writing I was able to move out of my rental and bought a beautiful house with my husband. Now I do it full-time and we live a very comfortable life. While I am not about to go handing out lists of my clients, I am all about encouraging new writers because I believe this is one of the best jobs out there!

Screenshots are great for a number of reasons, because they allow you to minimize the image to just what you want someone to see, the text doesn’t get indexed by Google so your clients don’t get nailed for duplicate content, and depending on where it is posted it can sometimes be a lot harder to copy as well.

I upload word documents to all of my clients when I’m turning in my Fiverr work. When I do that, I take a screenshot of what I just wrote and put a small snippet of it in the turn in box as well, explaining to the client that it’s for my own records. That allows the fiverr system to, depending on if your client agrees, add that snippet to your gig as one of the images, overlaid with the rating that you got on that gig. It’s a very tidy approach to the system! 😉

[michele_pittman]

My pleasure, friend. Writing has changed my life for the better, within a few years of writing I was able to move out of my rental and bought a beautiful house with my husband. Now I do it full-time and we live a very comfortable life. While I am not about to go handing out lists of my clients, I am all about encouraging new writers because I believe this is one of the best jobs out there!

Screenshots are great for a number of reasons, because they allow you to minimize the image to just what you want someone to see, the text doesn’t get indexed by Google so your clients don’t get nailed for duplicate content, and depending on where it is posted it can sometimes be a lot harder to copy as well.

I upload word documents to all of my clients when I’m turning in my Fiverr work. When I do that, I take a screenshot of what I just wrote and put a small snippet of it in the turn in box as well, explaining to the client that it’s for my own records. That allows the fiverr system to, depending on if your client agrees, add that snippet to your gig as one of the images, overlaid with the rating that you got on that gig. It’s a very tidy approach to the system! 😉

Wow, I love hearing that writing has done so much for you. I truly can’t live without writing. Hyperbole, yes, but you get it. 😉 I’m really amping things up now because my hope, like everyone else’s, is to get out of the 9-5 grind that is really messing with my mental health…you know, that, the state of the country, civil unrest, etc.

Thank you again for the tips. This has been invaluable.

[heyfellow1]

Okay, first, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your honest input. I feel like I’m flying blind here. I’ve never offered my work in this manner.

• Your advice on my editing gig makes a lot of sense. My thought process was “how much can I offer that involves writing?” Thank you for breaking that down.

• Everywhere I looked I read, “don’t charge too much when you’re brand new. Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price.” And I mean everywhere. I like your math, however, and again, makes perfect sense. Thanks for pointing this out one especially.

• Again, in trying to consume everything I could regarding this venture, I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients. But you’ve scared me. 😀 so that perk is coming down for sure.

• This one I was really unsure of. I didn’t know how to execute this. Do I upload a pdf? Do I connect to a story I’ve written? Taking a screenshot is a great idea. So I’m really giving an excerpt of my writing, not a document to peruse, is that what you’re saying?

I’m really grateful that you took the time to look at my profile/gigs and craft such a thoughtful critique.

Thank you!

Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price

Hi! This depends on what your offering. I started like this but I didn’t have much competition. Your in a very saturated market and have a ton of competition and keeping a level of prices (not 5 dollars) will not only get you more money but will also get you better customers. You can then increase them bit by bit , that worked for me 🙂

[visualstudios]

Okay, first, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your honest input. I feel like I’m flying blind here. I’ve never offered my work in this manner.

• Your advice on my editing gig makes a lot of sense. My thought process was “how much can I offer that involves writing?” Thank you for breaking that down.

• Everywhere I looked I read, “don’t charge too much when you’re brand new. Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price.” And I mean everywhere. I like your math, however, and again, makes perfect sense. Thanks for pointing this out one especially.

• Again, in trying to consume everything I could regarding this venture, I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients. But you’ve scared me. 😀 so that perk is coming down for sure.

• This one I was really unsure of. I didn’t know how to execute this. Do I upload a pdf? Do I connect to a story I’ve written? Taking a screenshot is a great idea. So I’m really giving an excerpt of my writing, not a document to peruse, is that what you’re saying?

I’m really grateful that you took the time to look at my profile/gigs and craft such a thoughtful critique.

Thank you!

I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients.

What top rated seller was giving that advice?? That’s a total noob move. No serious seller that knows what he’s doing would dream of offering unlimited revisions.

[michele_pittman]

Start at $5 and then when you get orders, increase your price

Hi! This depends on what your offering. I started like this but I didn’t have much competition. Your in a very saturated market and have a ton of competition and keeping a level of prices (not 5 dollars) will not only get you more money but will also get you better customers. You can then increase them bit by bit , that worked for me 🙂

Makes sense. Thank you so much!

[michele_pittman]

I read the blog of a top-rated seller who said that this would bring in clients.

What top rated seller was giving that advice?? That’s a total noob move. No serious seller that knows what he’s doing would dream of offering unlimited revisions.

I’m so glad I’m finding that out @visualstudios! It was from Alex Fasulo.

[visualstudios]

I’m so glad I’m finding that out @visualstudios! It was from Alex Fasulo.

Stop following people that make a business out of selling information. I took a look around, if somebody really is who they are claiming they are and making what they are claiming to make, why would they waste time making a blog to trying to peddle that information?

You mean to tell me you make 300k a year and you’ll waste time making a blog teaching people how to do it? Please.

[michele_pittman]

Stop following people that make a business out of selling information. I took a look around, if somebody really is who they are claiming they are and making what they are claiming to make, why would they waste time making a blog to trying to peddle that information?

You mean to tell me you make 300k a year and you’ll waste time making a blog teaching people how to do it? Please.

@visualstudios Lesson learned. 🙂