Any tips for getting work on Elance and Odesk?

[Hanvi]

With all the content mills shutting down, I’m finally starting to look for private clients. I’m on Fiverr, Elance, and Odesk. I’ve been able to get a couple of repeat buyers on Fiverr. However, not much is going on for me at either of the two bidding sites. Can someone please share some tips on how to get hired on either Elance or Odesk without accepting offers like 500 words for $1?

[danasurvey]

Do you have a portfolio or something showing off your writing skills? Maybe creating a blog or a website with links to the articles you've written would help?

[Emilykf]

I agree with Dana, I get private clients through my website and also through marketing myself locally and nationally.

I do work through Elance, and I'd suggest making sure your profile and portfolio are awesome, and not falling into the trap of working for peanuts just to get your first job. I did, ha ha! My real world rates for private clients are £75 an hour (about $125?) but my first job on Elance was nothing like that, it was shockingly low! Maybe go for the small jobs, rather than low paid jobs, first to 'get your foot in the door'.

[mmfh]

Also agree that starting a blog to showcase your writing skills is awesome idea.
The thing with elance/odesk is that no one who pays decent will hire you without great portfolio and positive feedback.
I'm afraid that without patience, determination and consistency you cannot build history and references, which you can later use to apply for higher paying jobs.

[Hanvi]

Thank you for responding with the tips. I am just not sure what to put in my portfolio right now. I can’t put up anything sold to TB or WD for obvious reasons. I have no idea what happened to the stuff published on Wikio Experts. I found the posts I wrote for MC, but they changed the formatting, and it all looks weird now. Should I write up a new writing sample just for my portfolio?

As of yesterday, I do have a free wordpress page to talk about my writing services. Speaking of that, do I need to buy a domain name now? Or can it wait until later?

Sorry to bombard you all with so many questions. I got used to signing up with content mills and picking out articles I want to write from the assignment pool. Now I feel so clueless about getting the clients on my own.

[annelaura04]

Strongly suggest holding firm. I'll likely hit six figures this year, and a huge chunk of that is from Elance. You have to know how to work the system. Write an excellent profile, solid writing samples, and hold firm on your rates. There are people who take low paying jobs there, but likely you don't want those clients anyways. I've even had people hire me after they went that route- a lot of those $5 articles were such garbled nonsense that they couldn't even be edited and the client ended up paying my much higher rates.

When I first started, I bought a lot of bids and had to bid a lot. Probably spent $120 that first month bidding like crazy, but that rolled into $3,000 in smaller projects and it has only grown from there. Elance actually contacted me to do a webinar for them about how to get to the top 1%. I'm not sure if they'll let me post it here but I'll try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7W34OBPQoU

You can also google tips for getting to the top 1% Elance- it's on Youtube if for some reason the link doesn't show up!

[mmfh]

@Hanvi
-If you feel that your formatted articles will not appeal to potential customers I suggest writing new ones, or depending on the TOS publish the original ones on your blog with the link where they are published.
-You can wait for domain.

@ annelaura04
Congrats on your success, I find your story fascinating.

[annelaura04]

Originally Posted by mmfh

@Hanvi
-If you feel that your formatted articles will not appeal to potential customers I suggest writing new ones, or depending on the TOS publish the original ones on your blog with the link where they are published.
-You can wait for domain.

@ annelaura04
Congrats on your success, I find your story fascinating.

Aw, thanks! I've had so much interest in it, I'm working on an ebook with some video tools as well to help people who are just getting started on Elance. I know it can be difficult to get your first job there. Honestly, after you get those first few jobs and good ratings from those clients, "working the system" can yield consistent, at-home income.

[Hanvi]

Thank you all for the tips and inspiration! I’ll get started on my writing samples.

[LaurenBT]

I have a lot of experience with oDesk. I would say it's best to write an effective profile and include relevant portfolio pieces. If you have ghostwritten a lot in the past, or don't really have any pieces for your portfolio, then create some.

Think about the type of writing you want to offer, such as copywriting or blogging. The create some high quality pieces. Creating specific portfolio pieces doesn't just give you something to show potential clients, but it allows you create pieces that are specifically tailored to the types of clients, and projects, that you want to work with in the future.

I would say that it's also a numbers game on oDesk. Apply for as many jobs as you can in one sitting. Also, take advantage of the site's filters. For example, I always uncheck the box that states "No Hires", as those clients don't yet have reviews, so it's difficult to determine if they are trustworthy or not.

With oDesk, and I assume it's fairly similar over at Elance, there's a great deal of low-paying jobs to sift through, but if you take the time to look through, there are some gems to be found. Also, once you've gotten a few contracts on oDesk, and you've gotten feedback, you'll find it much easier to get future work.