How to Make Money on Freelancer Sites Like Upwork and Fiverr

There are a lot of websites that serve as a freelancer marketplace for freelancers or work-at-home individuals to make money online.

Generally speaking, there are two types of freelancer sites:

1.      You create a listing of services on the site, based on what you are capable of (writing, designing, marketing, etc.), and wait for the clients to hire you. You make money when someone hires you and you complete the job. The best example of this kind of freelancer marketplace is Fiverr.

2.      The site showcases jobs posted by clients. You bid on the available jobs based on your skills. When your application is approved and the job awarded to you, you start working on it and get paid when you submit the completed job. The best example of this kind of freelancer site is Upwork.

Simple Google search will give you an extensive list of freelancer sites, however, if you are looking for quick information, here are some popular freelancer sites:

• Upwork

• Fiverr

• People Per Hour

• SEO Clerks

• 99Designs

Skills Required to Make Money on Freelancer Sites

Whether you want to bid on jobs to make money on the freelancer sites, or create a listing of your services on a freelance marketplace and make money by selling services, you need skills. Some of the on-demand skills on freelancer marketplaces are:

• Writing and editing

• Graphic designing

• Web designing and developing

• Programming

• Voiceover

• Video making and editing

• Digital marketing, etc.

Just like the job market in the real world, a freelance marketplace in the virtual world is also very competitive, in fact, it is saturated with highly qualified individuals. Therefore, general skills are not enough, you need to be a highly qualified individual. For example, if you are a writer, the ability to write 1000 words article is not enough, you need to write an SEO article, you need technical writing skills, you need proposal writing skills, etc.

You Have High-Quality Skills, Can You Expect a Lot of Money on Freelancer Sites

You can write almost anything from a copy for an advertisement to a whitepaper for a blockchain project, do you think you can make money on Fiverr, Upwork, or People Per Hour?

Not exactly!

To tell you the truth, having skills is not enough to make money on freelancer sites, you also need Search Engine Optimization skills, and you need digital marketing skills. Before I elaborate on these concepts, I will share a quote from Jim Rohn

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.

You will have to do SEO on your profile and job listing for internal and external ranking. In other words, you need to do SEO so that you can not only be found inside the site but also on the search engines when someone makes a search for a freelancer with your skills.

You will also have to market yourself via search engines, AdWord campaigns, or social media marketing. Marketing will help you to get discovered.

The idea is to help people find you, which increase the chance of getting hired

I will conclude this article with a quote from Thomas Edison.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

(Article first appeared on Forum Coin in byline Mika)