Start your freelancer career | How to earn money with Fiverr
In this blog post I will explain to you how to earn money with Fiverr when you just want to start your freelancer career. Fiverr is a freelancer platform that offers a lot of opportunities to earn money with your passion especially when you don’t have so much expertise at the beginning. I will give you a guide on how I increased my income from 20 € per month to 5.000 € per month. I never studied something in this field and I just learned all the skills from free YouTube videos. So, I am sure that you can do this too!
Table of Contents
Setting up your account | How to earn money with Fiverr
Before diving into the topic of how to earn money with Fiverr you first need to understand what Fiverr is all about and how you set up your account correctly to attract potential clients.
Getting Started
Understanding Fiverr: Fiverr is an online marketplace where freelancers and clients connect to exchange services. On Fiverr the services are known as “gigs”. They cover a vast variety of categories, from graphic design to copywriting, video editing and even voiceovers.
Selecting Your Niche: At the beginning it is really important that you find your niche and that you are not overwhelmed by all the services you could offer. Try to focus on the service that you can do best and then try to improve your skills with free YouTube Videos. This could be anything from writing, graphic design, web development, illustrations, social media marketing, or any other skill you possess.
Research and Competition Analysis: Take your time to do some research and analyze the competition in your chosen niche. This will help you understand what is in demand and what clients are looking for. For example, I decided to create vector illustrations as my niche. I just searched for these gigs on Fiverr to check the competition, the prices, the order amount and more. I checked what kind of description they used and how they created their profiles. You don’t have to create a complex analysis, just try to understand your competition and the field where you want to start.
Creating Your Fiverr Profile
Profile Picture: Your profile picture is the first thing potential clients see. Use a professional and friendly photo that represents you well.
Compelling Username: Choose a username that reflects your skills and is easy to remember. For example my name on Fiverr is: @malumidesign
About You: Write a compelling and concise bio that showcases your skills, experience, and what you can offer to clients. Next to your bio you have also the option to set up a short quote or text that will be showcased underneath your name. For this I chose this quote: “Creativity is nothing but a mind set free”. With this I wanted to show how much creativity means to me.
Prepare your services to earn money with Fiverr
Now you are one step closer to earn money with Fiverr and to start your freelancer career. But first you need to set up your service to generate your first order.
Getting Started
Gig Titles and Descriptions: Create attention-grabbing gig titles and descriptions. Be clear about what you offer to the client. For the beginning it can help if you take a look at other gigs which offer the same service as you to see which important information you need to mention. And make sure that you make it understandable for your client as well, because mostly they have no expertise in this field like you do. So make sure to avoid miscommunication to have no troubles with the client in the end.
Pricing and Packages: To start to earn money with Fiverr you should set competitive and reasonable prices for your services. Create multiple packages if applicable, such as basic, standard, and premium to give your client a variety to choose from.
What I did in the beginning was to check other prices in my field (vector illustrations). When you start with Fiverr you are on the level “New Seller”. With this level you usually cannot charge high prices. So I tried to be as cheap as possible just to get my first order and with that my first review. So I set my prices to the cheapest possible, 5 $ for an illustration. Of course that is waaaay too little money for the amount of work I have done, but like that I was able to generate the first reviews. And believe me the reviews are the most important part in the process.
Gig Extras: Offer additional services or add-ons that can help you earn extra income from each order. Here I mostly choose to set a gig extra for commercial use, for example. But at the beginning I wouldn’t recommend this option. Make it as appealing as possible for the potential client to buy something for you. For example I created a gig with the standard package of one figure for 5 $ with everything included as well unlimited revisions. That was an amazing offer that is why the first order came quickly to me.
Tags and Keywords: Use relevant keywords and tags in your gig to improve visibility in search results. Fiverr offers the option to set keywords for your gigs. Just use all possible keywords and pick some that represent your service. For this step you can also check other gigs in your field to check which keywords they used.
Media and Portfolio: Add high-quality images, videos, and samples of your work to showcase your skills and build trust. For each gig you have the option to set three example illustrations that potential clients can see. But one will be your thumbnail, so for this you should choose your best work so far. If you don’t have anything yet, just ask a friend to give you a fake order and an idea what you should create for your friend. Or you can check other gig thumbnails to see what kind of thumbnail works, and then create a similar illustration in your style.
Optimize your account to earn money with Fiverr
Once you are done with all basic steps to prepare your service and account, then you can go to the next chapter where you learn how to optimize your settings to create more orders and to earn money with Fiverr.
Optimizing Your Profile for Success
Optimize for SEO: Use relevant keywords in your profile, gig titles, and descriptions to improve your chances of appearing in search results.
Client Reviews: Like I already mentioned, this is the most important part in the whole process. Encourage your clients to leave reviews. Positive feedback will boost your credibility and attract more potential clients. Once you get your first 5-star reviews the orders will come from alone. Fiverr will automatically push your gig to the first page so that many potential clients will see your gig.
Promote Your Fiverr Profile: Share your Fiverr profile on social media and other relevant platforms to increase your reach. You also have the possibility to promote your gigs directly on Fiverr, with the promote feature. But for that you need to pay some money for every click, when someone clicked on your promoted gig. So I cannot recommend this for the beginning when you start with super low prices.
Attracting Your First Clients
Buyer Requests: Check the buyer requests section regularly to find potential clients looking for services in your niche. This is a super cool feature on Fiverr. To be honest for a long time I didn’t really know that this was an option. Luckily after I got my first reviews, I got more and more messages from clients so I didn’t need to check the requests because I already had enough work to do. But this can be really helpful for the beginning, when you have no reviews at all. Then you can check the buyer requests on Fiverr and apply for a request to get the job
Custom Offers: Send custom offers to potential clients based on their needs and requirements.The clients have the option to select your gig, choose a package and to directly pay and create the offer. But some clients will write you a message first to discuss the project with you. Then it is always super useful to use the option “create a custom offer”. Then you can discuss the price and deadline with your client in the chat and send him a perfectly suitable offer that the client can directly accept from your chat.
Response Time: Be responsive to inquiries and messages. After the reviews this is another super important step. On your Fiverr account you can always see statistics of your account. Make sure that you regularly check these statistics and that you are always in green everywhere. Like that your gigs are pushed more to potential clients and you can get to a higher level on Fiverr. After a month they will check your statistics and when you meet the requirements you can become a “Level 1 Seller”.
Earn money with Fiverr and make sure to increase your income
Now you are ready to earn money with your Fiverr account. But to make sure that you also increase your income over time, you should follow the steps below.
Delivering Exceptional Service
Communication: Maintain open and clear communication with your clients. Address their questions and concerns promptly. Communication is the key for a successful project.
Quality Work: Always deliver high-quality work that exceeds your clients’ expectations. You really should always give your best. You need the 5-star review to build a successful freelancer career. When you exceed your clients expectations they will come back to you again and refer you to others.
Meeting Deadlines: Consistently meet deadlines and keep your clients informed of your progress. Take this step seriously because when you are always on time your client will come back and they see you as a professional.
Expanding and Scaling Your Fiverr Business
Diversify Your Services: After the first time you can think about creating more gigs in other fields to reach out to more possible clients and to expand your skill set.
Set Goals: Define your income and growth goals and work towards achieving them.
Fiverr Pro: Once you’ve established yourself, consider applying for Fiverr Pro to access premium clients and higher-paying opportunities. My favorite feature is that you can withdraw your money directly and you don’t have to wait for 7 or 14 days depending on your level.
Best Practices for Success
Continuous Learning: Stay updated in your field by learning new skills and techniques. It is always super useful to learn more in your field and to improve your skills. Like that you can create a variety of gigs and you can earn more money and set higher prices for your work.
Networking: Connect with other Fiverr sellers and clients to build relationships and gain insights into industry trends. This is super important after some time. At the beginning I would always concentrate on one freelancer platform and to generate orders and reviews. But after some time you can start with other freelancer platforms as well.
Follow the link if you want to know more about different freelancer platforms for illustrator or more.
NOTE: From time to time, when I already worked with a client a few times, I will also send the client an email to ask if we can discuss the project by email in the future. Like that you can create your own invoice and you don’t need to pay a fee to the freelancer platform. This helped me a lot to generate way more income and to start my career as a freelancer.
Stay Committed: Building a successful Fiverr business takes time and persistence. Don’t get discouraged if results are slow initially.
Conclusion
Starting to earn money with Fiverr is an achievable goal if you approach it with dedication, professionalism, and a strategic mindset. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a strong presence on Fiverr, attract clients, and build a successful freelance career. Remember, success may not happen overnight, but with patience and hard work, you can turn your skills and expertise into a lucrative online business. It was really hard work for me at the beginning. I worked many hours for almost no money, just to get a review. I can tell you that it can take some time until you get your first order. To make it faster you can ask a friend if he/she can buy something to give you a first review. Because after your first review you will get more and more orders. But make sure that you always keep an eye on your statistics.
So, get started today and embark on your journey to financial independence with Fiverr!