Time for an Experiment - Going Niche and Raising Prices

[paulmaplesden]

I’m a big advocate of going niche on areas and topics - it helps you to:

• Build up a relevant portfolio you can share with other clients.
• Enhance your expertise and experience in a particular field.
• Create a reputation as a good content creator for that niche.
• Generate repeat business.
• Reduce the competition you face.

After looking at the seven gigs I’ve had in place for close to a year (since I joined), I’ve decided I need to experiment a little more.

I realize that as a TRS I can have up to 30 gigs, so it’s time to make use of that. I propose to go super-niche on several of the areas I can write in, to see if that will help to optimize my services, tags, search positioning, and more.

At the moment, my main areas of specialization are business, finance, technology, and healthcare. I’m going to break this down with separate gigs for several of these areas, for example:

Business - Break down to:

• Entrepreneurship.
• Process improvement and productivity.
• Risk and compliance.
• HR, culture, and employee engagement.
• Freelancing.

Technology - Break down to:

• Artificial intelligence and bots.
• Blockchain (although not cryptocurrency - had enough of those white papers!)
• Software as a service.
• IT service delivery and managed service providers.
• Internet of Things.
• IT security and encryption.

Finance - Break down to:

• Currency exchange and money transfer.
• Business accounting.
• Forecasting and planning.
• Taxes.

Healthcare - Break down to:

• Healthcare information technology.
• Healthcare communications.
• Revenue cycle management.
• Biotechnology and medical devices.

There are a few other topics I’ll put in there, and I still plan to keep the high-level gigs too. This is all part of an experiment to see if going more niche can help me with orders.

You will also notice that most of my topics appear fairly dry and dull, although I love writing about this stuff. The secret here is that it’s often the “unglamorous” topics where you can make a mark and demand higher prices. Not many people want to write about HIPAA, PCI DSS, enterprise accounting, or change management - but if you can, you can get better compensation because there aren’t that many of those writers around.

At the same time, I am going to increase my prices - at the moment I have to go out of office for around half of every month due to not having the time to meet demand. I am hoping that increasing prices will slow down the orders to buyers with enough of a budget, meaning I can spend slightly longer on each one. I’ll probably start with a 20% increase across the board, which will make prices looks like this:

• Standard writing, articles, and blog posts: $300 per thousand words.
• Web copy and work requiring more research: $350 per thousand words.
• Advanced research and white papers: $450 per thousand words.

This is all before Fiverr takes its 20%.

The plan is to see if a combination of going more niche and increasing prices leads to a reduction or increase in revenue from the platform.

That’s one of the great things about Fiverr, it lets you run your own mini-experiments with pricing and gigs to see what works (and what doesn’t).

Anyway, that’s the plan - I will make the changes and report back on how things are going in a couple of months. In the meantime, if you’ve had any experience with going more niche and raising prices, I’d be interested in what your results were.

[thecreativeguys]

Niche vs. reviews.

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

[paulmaplesden]

Niche vs. reviews.

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

I am curious too - this could be a disaster, but I won’t know until I try! The great thing is, I can revert if it does not work.

[uxreview]

I’m a big advocate of going niche on areas and topics - it helps you to:

• Build up a relevant portfolio you can share with other clients.
• Enhance your expertise and experience in a particular field.
• Create a reputation as a good content creator for that niche.
• Generate repeat business.
• Reduce the competition you face.

After looking at the seven gigs I’ve had in place for close to a year (since I joined), I’ve decided I need to experiment a little more.

I realize that as a TRS I can have up to 30 gigs, so it’s time to make use of that. I propose to go super-niche on several of the areas I can write in, to see if that will help to optimize my services, tags, search positioning, and more.

At the moment, my main areas of specialization are business, finance, technology, and healthcare. I’m going to break this down with separate gigs for several of these areas, for example:

Business - Break down to:

• Entrepreneurship.
• Process improvement and productivity.
• Risk and compliance.
• HR, culture, and employee engagement.
• Freelancing.

Technology - Break down to:

• Artificial intelligence and bots.
• Blockchain (although not cryptocurrency - had enough of those white papers!)
• Software as a service.
• IT service delivery and managed service providers.
• Internet of Things.
• IT security and encryption.

Finance - Break down to:

• Currency exchange and money transfer.
• Business accounting.
• Forecasting and planning.
• Taxes.

Healthcare - Break down to:

• Healthcare information technology.
• Healthcare communications.
• Revenue cycle management.
• Biotechnology and medical devices.

There are a few other topics I’ll put in there, and I still plan to keep the high-level gigs too. This is all part of an experiment to see if going more niche can help me with orders.

You will also notice that most of my topics appear fairly dry and dull, although I love writing about this stuff. The secret here is that it’s often the “unglamorous” topics where you can make a mark and demand higher prices. Not many people want to write about HIPAA, PCI DSS, enterprise accounting, or change management - but if you can, you can get better compensation because there aren’t that many of those writers around.

At the same time, I am going to increase my prices - at the moment I have to go out of office for around half of every month due to not having the time to meet demand. I am hoping that increasing prices will slow down the orders to buyers with enough of a budget, meaning I can spend slightly longer on each one. I’ll probably start with a 20% increase across the board, which will make prices looks like this:

• Standard writing, articles, and blog posts: $300 per thousand words.
• Web copy and work requiring more research: $350 per thousand words.
• Advanced research and white papers: $450 per thousand words.

This is all before Fiverr takes its 20%.

The plan is to see if a combination of going more niche and increasing prices leads to a reduction or increase in revenue from the platform.

That’s one of the great things about Fiverr, it lets you run your own mini-experiments with pricing and gigs to see what works (and what doesn’t).

Anyway, that’s the plan - I will make the changes and report back on how things are going in a couple of months. In the meantime, if you’ve had any experience with going more niche and raising prices, I’d be interested in what your results were.

• Build up a relevant portfolio you can share with other clients.
• Enhance your expertise and experience in a particular field.
• Create a reputation as a good content creator for that niche.
• Generate repeat business.
• Reduce the competition you face.

I agree with all of these, but for me personally it’s the cost that drives me to niche.

I guess for writers it’s not that important but if you’re a developer then purchasing licenses is a major factor and there’s no way I can afford licenses for WooCommerce, Membership plugins etc. I have to pick a niche, purchase only the licenses I need and focus on that niche.

[paulmaplesden]

• Build up a relevant portfolio you can share with other clients.
• Enhance your expertise and experience in a particular field.
• Create a reputation as a good content creator for that niche.
• Generate repeat business.
• Reduce the competition you face.

I agree with all of these, but for me personally it’s the cost that drives me to niche.

I guess for writers it’s not that important but if you’re a developer then purchasing licenses is a major factor and there’s no way I can afford licenses for WooCommerce, Membership plugins etc. I have to pick a niche, purchase only the licenses I need and focus on that niche.

there’s no way I can afford licenses for WooCommerce, Membership plugins etc. I have to pick a niche, purchase only the licenses I need and focus on that niche.

Yes - that’s understandable. I suspect video makers have the same issues, with VH templates etc (assuming they are purchased legally.)

[uxreview]

I think with this strategy you will definitely get more visibility.
For example, if I’m looking for an article then I often type in the topic or category. Let’s say I need a blog post on Artificial intelligence. Right now Fiverr shows me only 3 gigs under writing category.

I know it’s probably not that popular and most people probably won’t search with topic, but if they do then you have basically no competition.

I hope others will try it out in their category as well.
For example, WP maintenance gigs should be targeting specific tasks & errors rather than say “I will do everything”.

Keep us posted 🙂

[daviddoer]

Niche vs. reviews.

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

But how will people looking for content about those particular niches find you and know that you are available to produce for them?

I’m also thinking that there are different styles of designs in each particular niche, and your niche gigs can show evidence of your capabilities in those areas.

My guess is that even low review count for a single gig is well weighed with your overall rating as a seller.

[daviddoer]

I’m a big advocate of going niche on areas and topics - it helps you to:

• Build up a relevant portfolio you can share with other clients.
• Enhance your expertise and experience in a particular field.
• Create a reputation as a good content creator for that niche.
• Generate repeat business.
• Reduce the competition you face.

After looking at the seven gigs I’ve had in place for close to a year (since I joined), I’ve decided I need to experiment a little more.

I realize that as a TRS I can have up to 30 gigs, so it’s time to make use of that. I propose to go super-niche on several of the areas I can write in, to see if that will help to optimize my services, tags, search positioning, and more.

At the moment, my main areas of specialization are business, finance, technology, and healthcare. I’m going to break this down with separate gigs for several of these areas, for example:

Business - Break down to:

• Entrepreneurship.
• Process improvement and productivity.
• Risk and compliance.
• HR, culture, and employee engagement.
• Freelancing.

Technology - Break down to:

• Artificial intelligence and bots.
• Blockchain (although not cryptocurrency - had enough of those white papers!)
• Software as a service.
• IT service delivery and managed service providers.
• Internet of Things.
• IT security and encryption.

Finance - Break down to:

• Currency exchange and money transfer.
• Business accounting.
• Forecasting and planning.
• Taxes.

Healthcare - Break down to:

• Healthcare information technology.
• Healthcare communications.
• Revenue cycle management.
• Biotechnology and medical devices.

There are a few other topics I’ll put in there, and I still plan to keep the high-level gigs too. This is all part of an experiment to see if going more niche can help me with orders.

You will also notice that most of my topics appear fairly dry and dull, although I love writing about this stuff. The secret here is that it’s often the “unglamorous” topics where you can make a mark and demand higher prices. Not many people want to write about HIPAA, PCI DSS, enterprise accounting, or change management - but if you can, you can get better compensation because there aren’t that many of those writers around.

At the same time, I am going to increase my prices - at the moment I have to go out of office for around half of every month due to not having the time to meet demand. I am hoping that increasing prices will slow down the orders to buyers with enough of a budget, meaning I can spend slightly longer on each one. I’ll probably start with a 20% increase across the board, which will make prices looks like this:

• Standard writing, articles, and blog posts: $300 per thousand words.
• Web copy and work requiring more research: $350 per thousand words.
• Advanced research and white papers: $450 per thousand words.

This is all before Fiverr takes its 20%.

The plan is to see if a combination of going more niche and increasing prices leads to a reduction or increase in revenue from the platform.

That’s one of the great things about Fiverr, it lets you run your own mini-experiments with pricing and gigs to see what works (and what doesn’t).

Anyway, that’s the plan - I will make the changes and report back on how things are going in a couple of months. In the meantime, if you’ve had any experience with going more niche and raising prices, I’d be interested in what your results were.

At the moment, my main areas of specialization are business, finance, technology, and healthcare. I’m going to break this down with separate gigs for several of these areas

do you have a favorite subject to write for?

[matevzs1]

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

I am curious too - this could be a disaster, but I won’t know until I try! The great thing is, I can revert if it does not work.

Good luck and keep us posted. 🙂

I’m curious if it’s true that multiple gigs in the same category are “harmful” to each other.

[paulmaplesden]

At the moment, my main areas of specialization are business, finance, technology, and healthcare. I’m going to break this down with separate gigs for several of these areas

do you have a favorite subject to write for?

do you have a favorite subject to write for?

I listed those in the breakdown under each area.

[daviddoer]

do you have a favorite subject to write for?

I listed those in the breakdown under each area.

“Taxes” is a favorite, huh? 🙃

I assumed that was a mix of areas of interest and areas of competency, not simply a favorites list.

You create quality content. I’d be interested to see some of your writings on blockchain.

[thecreativeguys]

I’m curious to know if creating several gigs, all in different niches, will actually increase sales or would 1 writing gig with all the reviews be better.

But how will people looking for content about those particular niches find you and know that you are available to produce for them?

I’m also thinking that there are different styles of designs in each particular niche, and your niche gigs can show evidence of your capabilities in those areas.

My guess is that even low review count for a single gig is well weighed with your overall rating as a seller.

That’s what the description should be used for.

I do realize “I will create you an article” is super generic but the search should pull yours up depending on what the search was. (The gig backend seo should also help.)

[daviddoer]

That’s what the description should be used for.

I do realize “I will create you an article” is super generic but the search should pull yours up depending on what the search was. (The gig backend seo should also help.)

Idk what fiverr search engine does, but it doesn’t pay attention to tags or the description content. (at least for my gigs) Only the title makes a difference for search with my gigs.

then again, fiverr search engine confuses the heck out of me. I can write “[niche] article” and it will come up with all sorts of things in that niche that are not writing gigs. ooooh the mysteries of how fiverr search works and doesn’t work. I’m just going way off topic so I’ll stop right now

[uxreview]

Idk what fiverr search engine does, but it doesn’t pay attention to tags or the description content. (at least for my gigs) Only the title makes a difference for search with my gigs.

then again, fiverr search engine confuses the heck out of me. I can write “[niche] article” and it will come up with all sorts of things in that niche that are not writing gigs. ooooh the mysteries of how fiverr search works and doesn’t work. I’m just going way off topic so I’ll stop right now

it doesn’t pay attention to tags or the description content

I believe it does feed into the ranking algo, but the search itself is rather limited. For example, it’s true that you can’t search for keywords in the description which is really annoying.

[thecreativeguys]

Idk what fiverr search engine does, but it doesn’t pay attention to tags or the description content. (at least for my gigs) Only the title makes a difference for search with my gigs.

then again, fiverr search engine confuses the heck out of me. I can write “[niche] article” and it will come up with all sorts of things in that niche that are not writing gigs. ooooh the mysteries of how fiverr search works and doesn’t work. I’m just going way off topic so I’ll stop right now

You’re right for the most part, however, it still increases your chances by having your gig have more reviews, which in turn builds trust etc.

[jcmcbride]

This sounds like a great experiment. I’m going to follow your example and try a similar, although probably smaller scale, experiment and really niche down on a few gigs.

I have found that new gigs are often slow to catch on, but if you eventually catch fire. i suspect it does have to do with the social proof element that reviews provide like @thecreativeguys alludes to. I had an e-mail writing gig that didn’t get any sales for almost 3 months and then I would get an order here and there. Then suddenly it took off and has been my top revenue earner most months and is easily my most profitable gig.

I suspect that if you will let your experiment run long enough your niche gigs will become great revenue builders. Of course to get the reviews started you could always use custom offers to repeat clients to get them to use the new gigs.

I hope you keep us up to date on your progress.

Good luck!

[paulmaplesden]

This sounds like a great experiment. I’m going to follow your example and try a similar, although probably smaller scale, experiment and really niche down on a few gigs.

I have found that new gigs are often slow to catch on, but if you eventually catch fire. i suspect it does have to do with the social proof element that reviews provide like @thecreativeguys alludes to. I had an e-mail writing gig that didn’t get any sales for almost 3 months and then I would get an order here and there. Then suddenly it took off and has been my top revenue earner most months and is easily my most profitable gig.

I suspect that if you will let your experiment run long enough your niche gigs will become great revenue builders. Of course to get the reviews started you could always use custom offers to repeat clients to get them to use the new gigs.

I hope you keep us up to date on your progress.

Good luck!

Of course to get the reviews started you could always use custom offers to repeat clients to get them to use the new gigs.

This is a great idea and is likely the route I will go down.

[slidemarketer]

I am a new seller and my intention was to try this right off the bat. Rather than just create a generic “I will redesign your powerpoint” and get lost in the crowd, I have focused my gigs on specific uses, applications, and business types. So far, traffic has been light, but I am hoping that I have a higher conversion rate due to the specialization once the data compiles and orders come in. I am interested to find out if Fiverr’s search algorithms will support this type of optimization.

[daviddoer]

I’m already fairly niche, on a much smaller scale than you, of course.

As my part in this experiment, I just raised prices on my generic gig, because I’d rather be working in my niche. The generic gig has been getting more and more orders lately, we’ll see how this price increase effects sales for that one. I kinda hope they go down, but if people are willing to pay me more, I’ll be happy to do the grunt work 😃

[lynddg]

Yes! I’m new and keeping my prices low to get some work and reviews. But, to a certain extent I have already created niche Gigs.

Good luck with it, I think specialisms gives more kudos and ultimately you can charge your work out at true value. I know right now, I am working for way below my worth to get on, on here!

Interesting thread. 😃

[writer99025]

Very good advice. It’s my life’s goal to be the cheaper version of Pro Paul.

[paulmaplesden]

Very good advice. It’s my life’s goal to be the cheaper version of Pro Paul.

cheaper version

Why settle for a cheaper version? Keep raising your prices and see where you get to…

[writer99025]

cheaper version

Why settle for a cheaper version? Keep raising your prices and see where you get to…

I might do that, but my specialty is bulk orders. For example, I am doing an order of 30 articles for $450 right now. If I raise prices further, I push those who make bulk orders away.

Also, here’s the thing. Writing is a way for me to remain productive and spend my time without getting bored. I don’t depend on it for a livelihood and nobody depends on me.

I earn a lower-middle class American income from my writing and I live in India, and I save everything I make. Everything I make goes into long term bonds or diversified mutual funds, I have zero debt, no rent, no real expense. Save/invest 95% of what I make from all sources. My money makes money for me. I have very unique circumstances.

However, what I dread is not getting enough work. I need to remain busy or my mind will go waste and I will start wasting time on Twitter fighting political battles or worrying about the “Future of India”.

[paulmaplesden]

I might do that, but my specialty is bulk orders. For example, I am doing an order of 30 articles for $450 right now. If I raise prices further, I push those who make bulk orders away.

Also, here’s the thing. Writing is a way for me to remain productive and spend my time without getting bored. I don’t depend on it for a livelihood and nobody depends on me.

I earn a lower-middle class American income from my writing and I live in India, and I save everything I make. Everything I make goes into long term bonds or diversified mutual funds, I have zero debt, no rent, no real expense. Save/invest 95% of what I make from all sources. My money makes money for me. I have very unique circumstances.

However, what I dread is not getting enough work. I need to remain busy or my mind will go waste and I will start wasting time on Twitter fighting political battles or worrying about the “Future of India”.

Fair enough - my comment was more about not wanting you to undervalue yourself. I see far too much of that from genuinely skilled freelancers (it’s something I have wrestled with too.) Ultimately though, if the type of work you’re doing is fulfilling (not just financially, but the actual process of creation, and the fact it’s distracting you from overthinking elsewhere), then more power to you!

[writer99025]

Fair enough - my comment was more about not wanting you to undervalue yourself. I see far too much of that from genuinely skilled freelancers (it’s something I have wrestled with too.) Ultimately though, if the type of work you’re doing is fulfilling (not just financially, but the actual process of creation, and the fact it’s distracting you from overthinking elsewhere), then more power to you!

Yes, do have a look at my reviews when you have time…I used to write masterpieces for $5, now I do that for $10. I don’t outsource, do everything myself. Really, this freelance writing thing was invented for someone like me. This is the only job I am capable of doing and I’m very good at it.