Win More Projects on Job Boards

Many professional freelancers prefer to stay away from the largest job board sites–for good reason, as many sites have a reputation for low compensation or unscrupulous clients. However, there are still quite a few of us that find a good portion of our projects on these sites – or sites like them. Small jobs like those found on Elancer, Odesk, Freelancer, or others can help supplement your regular client projects.

Many job boards have responded to feedback to improve freelancer experience. Elance.com has just done a refresh on the user experience for their site. (Ed Note: FreelanceSwitch is in the process of updating its very own job board!) If you are in between projects, doing a bit of moonlighting, or looking at becoming a freelancer, here are a few tips to help you be successful in your next bid.

Assuming you’ve already created an account on a job board and chosen your appropriate field of expertise:

Find a Good Project

• Search for the project in your desired field.  Most job boards are broken down into categories. For example, at the time of this writing, there are dozens of jobs in the Design category on FreelanceSwitch.
• Keep an eye on the budget–know what size job you’re looking for.
• Check newest jobs first, which may have received fewer proposals. Alternately, on other sites you can choose to show only “Featured” jobs.  These folks paid extra to have their project listed, so they are probably not just fishing for bids. They are showing a financial commitment to the project, and this should work well for you.
• Check if they mention how they will handle compensation. Do they offer a down payment? Is there an escrow service?

Find a Good Buyer

• Now that you’ve got a decent list of projects, take a look at the buyers.  Many sites will offer community profiles (like FreelanceSwitch) or buyer ratings (Elance, etc). Some sites offer a lot of details. A good buyer is usually someone with a good buying ratio (12 projects posted, 10 awarded), and with a bit of math you should be able to determine what the average price they’ve paid per project (10 awarded, total purchased $2400 = average of $240 per project).  I’m not suggesting that you stay away from the people with no projects awarded, as potential great clients might be just starting out.  If a buyer has lots of projects, but very few awarded, they might choose to pay the provider outside of the job board’s escrow service.  This is a violation of some site’s Terms of Service – so be careful if you choose this route.
• When I find an interesting project or buyer, I will usually go and take a look at his/her previous jobs or comments on the forums.  If they ranked previous providers well, paid a reasonable amount for the work, and got positive feedback from the freelancer, I will usually put together a bid.  If there is enough information, I will Google the buyer to see if I can find additional info about them or their company.

Make a good bid

• Your bid is going to show your prospective client what it will be like to work with you.  Create a professional bid that showcases your skills, but most importantly, demonstrates that you clearly understand exactly what this client is looking for.  Answer the questions that the client asks in the project details.  Show them that you understand what this project needs, and you are the best person (or team) for this job.
• Include any examples of your previous projects that directly relate to this project.
• Brag about your achievements, your education, and anything that makes you  unique (well – keep it relevant to the project)
• Bidding is a tricky process.  You want to get the most payment possible, and your client wants the most quality – for the lowest price.  On some job sites, you can see how many people have bid on each project.  You can see the highest and lowest amount bid, as well as the average of all the bids.  Pick an amount that you can live with. Unfortunately, many sites are known for poor compensation.  I usually bid 75% of what I would normally charge.  75% of something is better than 100% of nothing, but do not work for free, or rock bottom prices.  There is an opportunity cost to factor in.  If you keep yourself busy working for pennies, you won’t have any time to do the bigger dollar projects when they come along.  I think of job boards as a supplement – not my full diet.

Keep in Contact

• The bidding process doesn’t end when you click on the “submit” button.  Keep in contact with the buyer.  Don’t harass them, but use site messaging options to share your thoughts or ideas with the client.  Show them that you are interested in the project.
• If you don’t get the job, see if your bid was higher or lower than the winning bid.  Sometimes you can ask the buyer what the deciding factor was; more often than not they are more than willing to share this with you.  And this is great information to have for future bids.
• When you do win the project, be clear on the terms.  This is an opportunity to show that you are a professional.  State specifically what you will provide, when you will provide it, and how much and when you expect to be compensated.  Review the terms before you accept them.

Some job boards include badges that you can add to your site to show your prowess. As you start winning more bids, use them to your advantage.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you get started freelancing, or help add a few dollars to your monthly billings.  There are quite a few great clients out there, and many of these relationships could grow into profitable ventures for you.

Good luck!