I agree that this post title is a little gimmicky but I wanted to share my experience within eLance (this is my profile and I haven’t completed the projects so haven’t earned anything yet).

eLance Rockstar? Not Yet!

I joined eLance last week so obviously I’m no rockstar there. I submitted about 10 bids and 3 were awarded to me (out of which I accepted 2) despite the fact that I had zero credentials on eLance. That’s 30% success rate which is not bad at all.

Here’s how I built trust on the bids I submitted.

  1. Good Communication: I thoroughly read the requirements and re-stated the requirements so nothing was lost in translation. Here’s what one buyer had to say about my bid even though I did not get that particular job but there’s a good chance that he’ll consider me when he puts up a new job for bidding.

    Hi Dipankar,

    Normally, I would decline your bid automatically because you don’t have any buyer feedback and so you are an unknown quantity. However, I was impressed by your communication skills in reviewing the project description back to me to make sure we’re on the same page, with your offer for free SEO, and with your profile that says you do free work for charities. Although I NEVER do this for providers without any feedback, I have added you to my list of saved providers so that I may invite you to future projects.

    On this project, however, I am going with another provider because they offered the following list of extra services and plugins at no extra charge:

    Thanks for your bid, and I will keep you in mind on future projects.

    Best regards,
    Dan


  2. Going The Extra Mile: I didn’t just stick to the requirements. If I felt that something was missing because the buyer had missed out or was not aware of it, I highlighted it and offered to do it as a bonus if the effort from my side was minimal. This helped differentiate me from the other providers.


  3. Bonus Service: This point is related to the one above. Everyone appreciates valuable freebies and eLance buyers are no different. I intentionally looked for something extra that I could provide which wouldn’t require much effort from me and I bundled that in my bid.


  4. Humbled Myself: I always started a bid by being truthful and humbling myself. I stated that I’m new to eLance but I do have extensive experience working on blogs, CMSes and SEO. I figured that starting a bid in this manner would prompt the buyer to read the entire bid instead of just tossing it out.


  5. Highlighted My Strengths: Even though I humbled myself, I immediately highlighted my strengths and experience by showcasing the work I have done. And I only bid on jobs where I was certain that I would do a great job. I didn’t bid indiscriminately.


  6. Follow-Up: I used eLance’s PMB (Personal Message Board) to follow-up and check with the buyers whether they had any questions on my bid. Whenever they had any queries, I replied promptly.
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