Should I pay the ten dollar a month fee to bid on these writing jobs? I used my free credits and recieved zero responses. The ten dollars a months seems like a lot when you arent getting work.
Whether or not you should pay the fee is entirely up to you. In my experience, it's a good idea to pay the ten dollars and signup for the professional package because you get a lot more bids (15, I think) to make; so, naturally, you have a much higher chance of landing a job. In actuality, getting "responses" from buyers is not about the bids; it's about how you make them. I personally don't have an account at Elance (cheap buyers ) but I started out on GAF (which sucks just as much) and on there, I almost always won the jobs I bid on. That's because I knew "how" to bid. I personally don't know how you structure your bids but there's basically two ways you can bid. One is like: "Good day, sir. I'm a professional writer from X city, Y country blah blah blah... I've been writing for years. I can assure the best quality work for your money with my expertise. I've worked with a lot of clients and can understand your needs perfectly. By hiring me, you're actually making an investment which will help your business grow. My writing is flawless, very informative and highly entertaining. Please send me a PM if you need samples. Thank you for considering my bid." ^This is how 'everybody' does it. This is how I did it: "Hi [name if available], I just read through your project description and wanted to let you know I'm interested. Unlike many other people here (ahem!), I don't make blind copy/paste bids. I'm offering you 50 x 400-wd articles for your website in 10 days or less at $20 each. So, that's $1000 in total. I can give you a discount on the bulk order and make it $900 We can discuss and negotiate payment terms. We can also have a small 5-article trial to see if my style of writing works for you (which, I'm sure, it will ) [If you have a website,] You can check samples of my writing at my website godofwriting.com. [No website] Or, just ask me and I'll send them over by PM. Thanks a lot, [Your name]" Guess who wins the job. I rule.
Nice advice God..... I run a company (articlesandcontent.com) We have a $10 monthly writers fee but unlike Elance our writers do not have to bid for work. There is always work available for everyone on the writers board and no extra commisions are charged. This is where I have to disagree with you..... It never matters how we get the responses as all writer applications are absolutely judged by the quality of their work before we even accept them. Our company survives on its quality so cheap prices etc are of no interest to us. We always justify the $10 monthly writers fee as an administration fee as we pay in-house Editors to scan all work before release. My experience of Elance the vast majority of work goes to the lowest price which basically means offshore. There is only a very small percentage that will pay premium. After all why do you think they post on Elance in the first place - Its an auction! Hope this helps JohnT Regards John