Time to Look Back Over Your Fiverr 2013

It’s nearly the New Year here in the United Kingdom, and the perfect time to look back over your 2013. Looking back will help you assess whether you met your goals, and look into why you didn’t meet some.

When it comes to Fiverr goals, I made most of them. I doubled my income from the last year and I became a Top Rated Seller. However, it is still about half of my income (despite being less than half of my working hours). I don’t want it to account for half of my income for one reason—I always say “don’t put your eggs into one basket”.

So, I’ve got a few tips to look back over your Fiverr 2013.

Look Back at Your Goals

What were your goals for 2013? Take a look at them and decide whether you met them. I tend to put them into three categories: those I met, those I didn’t at all, and those that I was on my way to meeting.

You’ll find a method that works for you.

Looking back over your goals is really good. It will give you the chance to assess your accomplishments, and check whether you were overreaching in them.

By checking back over your 2013 goals, you will be able to set some goals for 2014 that you are more likely to meet.

Assess Your 2013 Plan

You had a plan to meet your goals, right? It’s time to assess that to see whether you stuck to it, and why you failed in meeting your goals.

If you didn’t have a plan, think about your decisions for not making one. Did you think you wouldn’t need one? Did you not have the time? Was it just something you never considered?

When you assess you plan, think about what did work and what really didn’t. This will help you create a better one for 2014.

Where Did Your Fiverr Business Go?

You may have found that your Fiverr gigs took off in 2013 and you started going in a different direction to the one you planned. If this is the case, don’t worry about it. It’s often better to go with the flow.

However, this is the perfect chance to look back over those 2013 changes, and determine why they happened. You can also assess how they worked and whether it is worth expanding on them in 2014.

Make sure they are working for you. If something in your Fiverr business isn’t working, the end of the year is the time to find out and do something about it.

Are you ready to look back over your Fiverr 2013? I hope you all have a happy New Year, and 2014 brings you everything you want in your Fiverr business. Next week I’ll be here with tips for goal setting and planning to make 2014 your Fiverr year.

Merry Christmas!

I just want to take this chance to wish everybody a Merry Christmas!

I will be spending a few days off to spend time with my family. I know not everyone will be taking the time off, but all my gigs are going to have a longer delivery time to get ready for the longer break than normal.

For me, this really is a time for family.

Enjoy it!

I'll be back next week with some tips for Fiverr goals next year.

How to Get More Sales on Fiverr: Proofreading Your Fiverr Gig Descriptions

So many people are looking into how to get more sales on Fiverr.

You can do all the marketing you want and improve your tags every day, but those steps aren’t going to get your more sales if you don’t make sure your Fiverr gig descriptions are perfect.

This isn’t about making them clear—although that is important. It’s about proofreading your Fiverr gig descriptions. You want to get rid of all spelling and grammar mistakes, along with making sure they read as you need them to for buyers to understand what you offer.

Why is proofreading your Fiverr gig descriptions so important? How will you get more sales on Fiverr? Here are a few reasons why.

You Don’t Come Across as Lazy

If you don’t proofread, you look lazy. It doesn’t matter if you’re an native English speaker or not. By not proofreading, you show that you don’t care about your English, and that is going to affect the number of people buying.

Why should someone trust that you’re not too lazy to do their work perfectly? Why should someone not think you’re going to be lazy when money is involved?

It’s too much of a risk, and will cause low sales.

It’s Easier to Understand

There are so many people on Fiverr, and you need to get your gig across to every single one of them. Not everyone is perfect at English; and some people are grammar Nazis. If your Fiverr gig description is written badly, it’s going to make it very hard to understand.

Those reading it with English as a second or third language will struggle to read past the mistakes. Those who do read English as a first language will find themselves focusing on the mistakes and not what your description actually says.

By proofreading your Fiverr gig description, you will make it much easier for everyone to understand.

Show Off Your Skills

Your gig description is the first impression a Fiverr buyer will get of you. You want that impression to be perfect, and show off your skills. Proofread to show that you do take pride in your work.

If you’re offering writing or proofreading gigs, this is extremely important. If your gig description is full of mistakes, what is your actual work going to be like?

That doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself. If you’re not very good at English, don’t be embarrassed about getting someone else to do it for you. There are plenty of writers on Fiverr offering proofreading gigs. You can check mine out righthere, where I do up to 500 words, which means you’ll get a couple of gigs or so proofread.

Still wondering how to get more sales on Fiverr? Don’t underestimate the power of well-proofread gigs. If your Fiverr gig descriptions are poorly written and difficult to understand, you will scare people away.

The Importance of Reading Fiverr Gig Descriptions and Buyer Instructions

I’ve recently had a few problems with people not reading my Fiverr gig descriptions or buyer instructions. One or two and I don’t mind explaining, but it is getting to the point of annoying.

There is a point to gig descriptions and the buyer instructions that seller have in place. It’s to create uniform, and to make sure orders are seamless and easier to complete.

Why Read Fiverr Gig Descriptions?

The gig descriptions tell you what you can expect from a gig. It will tell you about it in more detail, such as the number of words that are covered in a writing gig or the length of time for a video. It will tell you about whether you can have a script written—for extra—or if there are other extras that you can purchase.

The gig description will also tell you more about what the seller will not do.

Just recently I’ve had a handful of people asking me to do their homework. If they read the Fiverr gig description on my writing gig, they would realise that I fully state that I do not do homework reports, assignments or anything similar. Not reading the description and contacting me about it is wasting their time and my time.

You can find out more about Fiverr gig descriptions here.

What About the Fiverr Buyer Instructions

There is a small box for sellers to add instructions for the buyer. If nothing is entered into the gig page when these instructions are in place, the countdown timer will not start.

The buyer instructions can reiterate parts of the gig description, but they will usually have new instructions for the buyer. It could be to answer a few questions, or to enter all the information required to complete the gig.

I’ve got a very clear notice to say enter all information, even if we have spoken through messages. It may sound annoying for the buyer, but it stops me missing anything should something be included in the messages and not on the order page. I can lose track of the people who have messaged me and those who haven’t, or those who have asked for extra stuff through messages after placing an order.

So, as a buyer, ready the Fiverr gig description and follow the buyer instructions. It is really important. They are all there for you!

Help! I’ve Lost My Fiverr Level

It’s something that is on the Fiverr Forum a lot lately. People lose their levels and then come to the forum looking for help.

Before I add anything else, I’m going to make this clear. I don’t work for Fiverr, I’m just a seller on the site. These thoughts are mine alone, and the way that I believe the website works. Also, those in the forums are just buyers and sellers; not official spokespeople for the website.

So, why could you possibly lose your level? There are a few reasons for this.

Not Active Enough/Getting Enough Sales

When I’ve read the Level 2 requirements, one thing always stands out: 50 orders within a two month period. To me, that means every two months, you need to have, on average, 50 orders. I think there is some leeway if you’re active on the site and are still fulfilling orders, as one seller has pointed out that she doesn’t get 50 orders within a two month period.

The reason I do believe this though is because I lost my levels. I was inactive for a while on maternity and all my gigs were suspended. The only orders I did were those that were placed before I left. So, I went two months without 50 sales. After a week of being active again, I soon got my levels back.

Not Following the Rules

This is a big problem. People complain that they’ve lost their Fiverr levels, but that they’ve done nothing wrong. After trying to help them, they’ll admit that they did get a warning or two about contacting people outside of Fiverr, or breaking one of the other rules.

If you’re going to break the rules, expect a negative effect. That is the loss of your levels. Can you get them back? Yes, but you need to prove that you are trustworthy.

Getting Too Many Cancellations

If your cancellation ratio goes up, you’re going to find that your levels go down. This is because you’re not constantly delivering on orders. After about 20%, your cancellation ratio will show up on your gig page, so watch out for that!

It’s really hard to avoid some cancellations. At the moment, there are buyers purposely trying to destroy top sellers’ reputation by ordering in bulk and then cancelling. The best way around this is to keep promoting to get more sales and counteract those cancellations. It’s not easy and we all complain, but there is nothing more you can do right now.

Getting Negative Feedback

Getting one negative feedback, depending on the number of positives, isn’t going to harm your levels eligibility. However, if you get a lot, you’re going to find that you are demoted. You’ll also find that you don’t get any new orders because people can’t trust you.

It’s really important to deliver quality at all times. I’ve got negatives and I don’t believe they affect me. In fact, I recently had a previous buyer come back because he saw the negative left and knew I didn’t deserve it. He’s since left another positive, and helping me rebuild my rating. Once you get good buyers like that and ones that want you to do well, you will find that one negative isn’t all that bad.

If you can’t deliver quality for any reason—maybe the buyer hasn’t left the information required, or it’s not in your gig description—you will have to request the cancellation. I think that will do less harm than the negative, especially if you’re getting a lot of negative reviews. If you’ve done the work and the buyer is threatening you for any reason, contact Customer Support for some help and advice.

Have you lost your Fiverr levels? Think about what could have happened and take this time to make some changes. Remember that Customer Support is there to try and help you. Want to share your story here? Feel free!

Fiverr Alternatives: Other Sites to Sell or Buy at a Fiver

There are lots of Fiverr alternatives. Some of them are good but very few are anywhere near as good as the Fiverr website.

However, when you want somewhere different to sell or buy things for $5, they are worth considering. Here are a few of my favourites and ones that I offer a few gigs on.

Fivesquids

This is one of the greatest Fiverr alternatives for those in the UK as it is all in UK pounds. I’ve had a few sales through this website but nothing as much as I get from Fiverr. I don’t put the effort in it though that I do the original micro-job website.

Fivesquids also have different levels. After you gain a certain amount of positive feedback or if you are willing to pay for the service each month, you can start offering gigs at £10, £20 and even £50.

GigBucks

This is one of the Fiverr alternatives that has tried to take the Fiverr idea and make it their own. Instead of just offering the chance to sell for $5 and add gig extras, it offers the chance to sell and buy from $5 and anything up to $50; just for a single gig.

This could be beneficial for those who have something bigger to offer. Web designers and graphical artists will find that it could be more worthwhile; if you can get the sales.

Fourerr

This is an obvious alternative to Fiverr. Instead of offering gigs for $5, the sellers offer gigs for $4. That’s great for the buyers but not the best for sellers. However, if you can find something that just needs automating or is already created and you just click to add for the delivery, it could bring in more revenue since people want to spend less.

Tenrr

Another site that is just as it sounds. It allows sellers to offer gigs for up to $10, but it could be as something as small as $1. I like this site for some of its protection for sellers. Before a gig is order, the buyers have to send job requests. Only once the seller confirms the work can an order be placed. It solves many of the issues on Fiverr.

The people at Tenrr don’t take fees for the work and allow the sharing of contact details. This helps to arrange for extra work, personal payments and many other things. The owners know that it works as a meeting place. However, there is more protection staying on this one of the Fiverr alternatives for both buyers and sellers.

So, when you want a break from the monopoly Fiverr seems to have become, it may be worth looking out for some of the other options. There are plenty of Fiverr alternatives out there. Some aren’t as great and the jobs don’t come through as quickly or as often but it is always worth having the gigs up there. At least then you stand the chance of getting one order now and then and every little penny helps, right?