Six Secrets to Winning the Job at Elance

I imagine if you’re reading this article, you’ve already signed up with a job site like Elance or GAF (or you’re hedging your bets on both and more) and have spent your days writing job proposals and wondering why not you are earning as much work as you would like. That can be so frustrating and discouraging. The six basic things to remember if you want to win a job on Elance are:

1. Modify your profile to show all your talents. Many people only put the most basic information on their profile because they are afraid to show what they don’t know. The most important thing to do is highlight all your positive points, even if all you have as experience is the ability to organize your time because you are a stay-at-home mom, this is still important to clients. So don’t be shy; talk on your profile.

2. Add samples to your portfolio. Did you know that many potential clients search vendor profiles and portfolios for vendors they can invite to projects? Make sure you have a complete list of all examples of the type of work you do in your portfolio. If you don’t have work to list as a sample, make it up; they are vital to winning the job at Elance.

3. Be picky about the types of work you bid for. When I was looking for a job, I first used the search function on Elance to filter jobs, so I was only looking at work that I knew I could do. For example, my favorite job was “ebooks”, so I insisted on bidding only on jobs with ebooks. I also wouldn’t bid on jobs that already had more than 12 proposals UNLESS I knew I could shine.

4. Don’t tell the customer what’s wrong with their job requirements, show them what you can do to help them with their problems. If you think the budget is too low or the timeframe is too short, simply don’t bid on the job. There are many or others on the site.

5. Answer customer questions in the PMB IMMEDIATELY. Many freelancers don’t check their email more than once a day; If you want to work, you need to be available, so be sure to check your messages at least three times a day and respond to customer questions or comments fully.

6. Add that little extra. If the job requires an eBook, be sure to include a TOC, footnotes, a copyright and disclaimer page, and an additional resource page; the customer may not have asked for them, but offers them anyway. If he is writing articles, offer to do the CopyScape report before submitting the articles. Remember the McDonald’s adage “would you like fries with that?” and update the customer in the proposal.

The six secrets to winning the job on Elance are easy to implement and only require a little bit of your time. Benefits include winning more jobs and getting paid faster. To learn more about the winning work on Elance, please visit my websites.