Freelance Writer Jobs at Elance - Bidding Strategies
By Robert Leichter
Once you know how to bid on freelance writer jobs at Elance, you are well on your way
to a steady income. Yes, it's true that many writing jobs there pay very little, but if
you take the time to fine tune your bidding skills you can land decent paying jobs at Elance.
Most jobs at Elance are copywriting jobs. When you search for projects up for bid at
Elance in the "Writing & Translation" category, you will notice "Copywriting" is a very
small subcategory; however most of the subcategories in the "Writing & Translation"
category are filled with projects that involve copywriting in the sense that it is
traditionally defined : writing that promotes.
This includes most of the article writing jobs at Elance. While many of these article
jobs tend to pay very little, as low as $1 per article, some pay $25 to $50 each.
The best paying work at Elance is in direct sales writing (sales letters for Internet
marketers and direct mail campaigns), lead capture pages (also known as squeeze pages),
web content and email campaigns. Copywriters completing these type of projects through
Elance often make $50 or more hour. (The jobs are generally done for a flat fee, but this
is how much the earings work out to.)
Note: If you're not yet trained in this type of writing do take time to learn the
craft. There are many websites and books (probably at your local library) that teach sales
writing skills. There is a learning curve, but if you enjoy copywriting, the money you can
earn is worth the time spent learning this craft.
Many buyers at Elance are Internet marketers selling informational products, and then
there are professionals, from dentists to real estate agencies, as well as a wide
assortment of other business owners and management.
Before bidding, get an idea of what the competition's bidding. Most bids are closed,
but you can get the low, high and average bid amount at the jobs listing page (the page
that comes up when you search for a jobs in a specific category, such as "Writing and
Translation." In the far right hand column you will see the number of current bidders.
Mouse over one of these and you get the high, low and average bids. Also mouse over the
buyer's information. Don't waste time bidding on jobs posted by buyers who rarely award them.
Do not be intimidated by the sheer numbers of the bids you see on many of the projects
as they approach closing date. Many projects are posted a week or two in advance of
closing date. If you are among the very first to bid you have a better chance of getting
your bid at the top of the list. This can help immensely because when the list is long,
not all buyers read through all the proposals.
The advantage of bidding late in the game is you can bid more competitively after
seeing the high, low and average based on most of the bids.
Unless they are both taken, you can purchase one of the top two slots on the bidding
list for an extra connect or more depending on the size of the budget. And there is
another way to get noticed sooner...
If you have a legitimate question about the project that wasn't answered in the
description or materials attached, you can open a private message board to ask your
question and also use that opportunity to work in something that helps the buyer remember
you or want to check out your proposal right away.
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