How to Climb the Ladder on Fiverr

Doing the right things, in the right order, can really make a big difference, in helping you to get onto Fiverr's radar early, and build your business up more quickly.

Quickly Up the Ladder (Introduction)

I launched my Fiverr account in September of 2018, and it got off to a pretty fast start. By the end of that year, I was already a Level Two seller. By around March of the next year, I got the word from Fiverr that they had named me a Top Rated Seller. Since then, I've racked up over a half a million dollars in sales on Fiverr. So...is it possible to climb quickly up the Fiverr ladder? Apparently! How did I do it? That's what I want to talk about here, in the hopes it'll help you to also climb higher, faster.

My goal is to eventually do a full "Climb the Ladder" course that will give me the time I need to go into a lot more detail...but here in this mini-series, I'll go over the main areas I that helped me to climb as high as I did, as fast as I did.

Part One: Value

I bought some fire starters for our wood stove the other day. They're basically just cedar shavings suspended in wax, and formed into a hardened wafer. You light the edge of one, set it under the main firewood, and it burns hotly for awhile, kindling the larger stuff. The fire starters I purchased were higher priced than some of the other brands I saw online, but I got them because, in the reviews, I discovered that just one of those little discs is so effective that a lot of people actually break them into fourths and use a quarter of one at a time to start their fires. So despite the higher price, these will actually be less expensive for me to use. In the end, my purchase is going to get me a better quality product, while saving me money. That's value!

Before anyone ever buys a product or hires a service, the first thing they're probably going to consider is value. What are they getting for the price, or the rate? If the quality seems to exceed the price, that goes a long way toward sealing the deal. Another way we determine value is by looking at what others have had to say. Ratings and reviews. When I see something listed on Amazon that has been purchased by 4000 people, and averages 4.5 stars, I feel confident that this is something others have experienced real value in, and that I will as well.

Another item that enters into the value equation is the time factor. Am I going to get this fairly fast, or am I going to have to wait around for it? If two providers offer the exact same product and price, and have similar reviews, but one can deliver in 48 hours, and the other can't deliver any sooner than 5 days from now, it's a no-brainer who we're going to consider is offering the better value.

So value includes the product itself, what we charge for it, how soon we can deliver it, and what others have had to say about what we offer, and the way we present it. A five-legged stool, you might say.

Quality Presentation

If you're in a grocery store, shopping for some particular product, and you see two brands of cheese, side by side: one that looks like it was packaged by a kindergartener, and the other that was packed really professionally, it doesn't really matter how good the poorly packaged cheese is. It may be the vastly superior product. But we're not going to make that mental jump, because we can't get past that initial bad impression we received from the "cheesy" packaging, if you'll pardon the pun.

On Fiverr, packaging is just as important as it is at the grocery store. Every aspect of our Fiverr gig needs to look really polished and professional...from the gig image, to the demo, to the description, to the portfolio, if you have one. If we skimp in the area of presentation, everything falls apart, because without that initial attractiveness, people won't try what we offer, we won't get clicks, won't get orders, won't get reviews, and won't build the reputation that leads to still exposure in search, and more clicks, and more orders, etc.

In particular, the gig image and the demo are very important rungs on the ladder, and need to really shine.

The Gig Image

Unless you're a professional graphic designer, don't try and make your own gig image. And don't assume you'll be able to get make something good enough through an online resource like Canva. That's all boilerplate stuff.. There's no real point in messing with things like that, when there are people on Fiverr who will do really top-notch looking gig images, with unlimited revisions, for ten bucks. Spend the money!

The Demo

Your Fiverr demo shows people what you're capable of doing for them. It should represent the very best you can consistently do at your present skill level. It should be presented as professionally and creatively as you can possibly manage. Really study the demos of the people who appear to be successful in the category of service you offer. But don't just copy what they do,. If anything, just use them as springboards for your own, even more creative demo ideas. If you need to spend some money to have a demo done, and you have it to spend, again, spend it.

Note that I said the demo should represent the very best you can consistently do at your present skill level. By that, I mean, the demo should be a cobbled together conglomeration of whatever you have at hand, which may or may not be the best you're capable of. And importantly, it shouldn't over-represent your current abilities. If the graphic you're displaying is something that took you way more time than you could devote to something similar in an inexpensive Fiverr order, or the voiceover you put in your demo is something a tutor coached you through word-by-word, which you'd have trouble reproducing on demand for a client, don't include it in your demo.

The Price

The amount to charge for services on Fiverr is one of the things people struggle with the most, because it feels like such guesswork. Especially, considering the rates on Fiverr are often less than what we're used to charging for similar work elsewhere. When I started on Fiverr, I was used to a LOT more money for my work. But I followed the formula I had learned about in a webinar, as humbling as it was, offering my services starting $5. For me, it was part of a long-term strategy that involved getting lots of initial sales, making lots of people really happy, and building things up from there.

Now there was another element to the pricing part of it, which I believe was a major contributor to my fast rise on the platform, but that's more than I can describe here. I have that spelled out in my HeadSlapper 3, which you can grab off my website.

Next time

In future parts of this "Climb the Ladder" series, I'll talk more about product quality, cover those all-important keywords, and talk about the importance of what you say to clients, and when you say it. There's a LOT to be said on that subject. Be sure to follow along!

There's so much you and I can do together to improve your gig's performance. Schedule your Gig Doctor appointment by hitting the Gig Checkup link at the top of this page for an inexpensive personalized checkup and consultation!

For those of you who do voiceovers, or who are interested in entering that fun profession, I can help there too. Check out my voiceover coaching services.