Why Isn't my Gig Selling Better on Fiverr?
When you first set up on Fiverr as a newcomer, it really feels like a blank slate. As you go through their setup wizard, a lot of it feels like guesswork. The result, when you click "Publish," is a gig that may have some potential, but probably isn't going to set the world on fire. Time and experience, and trial-and-error will teach you many things that will help you do better.
That said, you don't have to resort to trial and error for everything. You can definitely leapfrog others on Fiverr if you know certain things about the platform, and optimize what you are offering to take advantage of them. There are some things Fiverr acknowledges about itself that we can leverage, and there are other things we discover over time that become clear, and we can also turn those to our benefit.
To my way of thinking, the areas where we can improve our chances on Fiverr fall into, appropriately enough, five categories. I'll take these one at a time here in the Fit Gig Blog
You need to impress (that includes having something truly valuable to offer)
You need to be found in their search engine.
You need attractive pricing.
You need a good track record.
You need wonderful customer service and communication.
Don't despair if the combination of these things sounds like too high of a hurdle. It isn't. Unless...you can't fulfill #1...which is our focus this time.
You Need to Impress With Quality
Let's get past the biggest pain point first. If you are offering a service you don't excel at, you'll never get very far on Fiverr or anywhere else. Sure, you can still post a gig and you may get a few sales, but there's no point in deceiving yourself into thinking that if you do a good job of marketing, and handle points #2-#5 well, the quality of your work will be less of a factor. That's nonsense. Quality work is everything. So be your own worst critic, and also get feedback from others. If you think you need to develop your skills further, do it! You can still offer something inexpensive on Fiverr and slowly, systematically build some sales numbers in the meanwhile, but to really succeed, keep...improving...your...skills!
You Need to Impress With Your Demo
As "The Gig Doctor," I work with a lot of sellers, and they are at all various phases in their Fiverr career. Some are just setting up their gig, which I love, because then I can really help them get off to a flying start. Others have been at it a short time and are reaching toward their goals of becoming a Level One or Level Two seller. Some are even Top Rated Sellers. One of the things that really distinguishes sellers from each other is the quality of their demo. You can see which sellers have really invested themselves in their demos, and which have, either through apathy or a lack of knowledge of what to do, just "put something up there." As a buyer, I'd take one glance at the a slipshod demo and say, "Next!" and be off to look at others.
The place where things really fall apart is contents...a demo video that doesn't contain very good samples. Let's use an outmoded but excellent analogy. If a salesperson arrived at your door, carrying a sample case, and when they opened it up, everything in the case looked like cheap knockoff junk, or was stored in the case in jumbled disarray, it probably wouldn't be long before you showed them the door.
Think of your demo like that sample case. Does each sample stand alone as an impressive example of your work, or does it seem only to be a batch of hastily mocked up samples, assembled in a jumble? If you're presenting media samples, such as audio or video clips, is each clip long enough to give a true example of what you can do in a certain style, or are the clips so short that...before the viewer/listener has even started to grasp what they're seeing, you've already moved on to the next one? Is there enough variety in your demo? Comparing it to a case of sample shoes, are there high heels and sandals and oxfords and deck shoes, or are you really just presenting a whole case full of sneakers?
Look this matter square in the face. Confront it head on. If you were a buyer, would you choose your demo over others? Is it professional, with quality titling, music, narration, whatever is required for the service you're offering, or does it look slap-dash and amateurish? And is there a gig image somewhere in the video that you can select in your setup gallery and "Set as Preview?" If not, you're at Fiverr's mercy as to which frame of the video will be used as preview...and the odds are it won't be a very impressive one. You really need to take control of which frame of the video gets used as the preview.
Invest in Your "Sample Case"
One of the best things you can do for yourself as a Fiverr seller is to go to their site using the incognito mode on your browser and do searches for products/services matching what you offer. See what comes up. See which people are selling the heck out of it. Look at their gig images, visit their gig pages, watch their demos, read their descriptions. But especially study their demos. The insights you get by investing that time in research will pay great dividends. Take lots of notes. Don't just visit one successful buyer. Visit a number of them, and study what they're doing with their "sample cases." If you don't come away from that with lots of great ideas, I'll be very surprised. Take more time to plot out for yourself the contents of your own demo. Don't rush it. You're investing your time in a very worthy way.
Next, invest some money. If you're a voiceover person who isn't skilled with production, spend some dollars to have a pro help you put together a demo. No, you don't have to spend two grand to get that done. You can, but there are alternatives. Talk to me about ways to accomplish it less expensively. If you're a great logo designer, but can't find your way around in a video editor, hire someone on Fiverr to compile your samples into a killer slide show, maybe with music, sound effects, and a logo representing your business. If you want to "brand" yourself, regardless of what you're offering, again there, decide on an image and a look, and hire a Fiverr logo designer to create something for you as your gig image, which will double as your preview image in Fiverr search. You can get these things accomplished,...all of them...without it costing you a fortune.
Next time, we'll talk about the importance of "getting found" on Fiverr.
Find out what you can do, LEGITIMATELY, to get ahead on Fiverr. Please hit the Gig Checkup link so we can set up an inexpensive personal consultation and discuss ways to optimize your gig for increased traffic and sales!