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How to set up the perfect freelance service on an online marketplace
It doesn't matter what online marketplace I'm on; I always see the question "How can I increase my sales here?" because there isn't an answer that works for every platform. There's always something different that works for the platform you're on, but I wanted to write up some general rules to help you no matter where you're selling your services!
I've been selling online for a long time, not just here, and I think I know what I'm doing, but there's always room for improvement so please chime in if you notice anything I missed.
Now then, let's get started!
Images capture the buyers' attention
It doesn't matter where you're listing your items; if you don't have unique images, you won't get noticed much. Think about it, how many times have you come across a service that has pictures that look like they were made with MS paint and you thought "Not today! Next!". Well, this happens pretty often, and it can be resolved if you just used some good looking images that stand out.
Look at the homepage of this website, how many images are stock ones? None at all, the majority of them are custom designed and stand out. These sellers know that images pull in buyers, so they have something unique, and it's working for them every single day their service is there.
Formatting will help increase sales
After someone clicks on your amazing image, they will land on your service page. If this service page looks like a novel written by J.K. Rowling, the potential buyer will likely move on quickly. To solve this problem, you need to start formatting your content so it's broken down into sections. Your sections need to be short, like two or three sentences short, and you will be able to keep peoples attention.
This is a quote to keep your mind from getting bored!
See what I did there? I added a quote that is bold, italicized, underlined, a different font, and the size of the font is even larger than the text around it. By doing little things like this, you will give people a mental break from reading and they will feel slightly refreshed and keep moving down your service. If you can keep pitching and showing them amazing things, they will likely buy as long as they're not getting reader fatigue.
Cross selling helps increase your sales
Loads of sellers here have multiple services but fail to cross sell them. This is a crucial way if you want to link your services together in a different area other than your profile. It's not rocket science, so I won't stick on this section very long, you just need to put something like "Check out my other services below!" then link to everything you sell or just link to your top 3 in order to funnel people to services that make you the most money with the least amount of time invested!
Bulk orders with discount encourage larger orders
A lot of the top sellers are doing this because it works! If you were to buy two then you'll get the 3rd free or buy five and get three free, it really depends on what you feel comfortable offering.
If you can afford to do a "Buy 10 get 10 free", then go for it! You'll likely get a lot of sales and if the amount of work doesn't worry you, you'll make gain some loyal clients at the same time
BOGO's are everywhere, not just online, and this is because they work. You can even use this for your cross sales and see your orders increasing gradually.
Work examples show you know your stuff
Look at the top sellers and take note because they're showing examples after their pitch. They show what they've done, how it's helped the buyer, and why people keep coming back for more. If you can add these types of images to your services, then I can pretty much guarantee you'll increase your sales!
Public reviews build trust with buyers
You can't really do this on your own because it's against the TOS here, so you'll just have to gain them naturally, but you can help boost them by reminding buyers to give reviews. When you're submitting your work for approval by the buyer, you should always remind them to leave you a positive review if they liked your work. You can't really butter them up by saying "I'll give you a free service for a positive review" because that's pretty unethical and the reviews won't be legitimate.
If your buyers aren't responding to the order submission pages and the work autocompletes you can always PM them asking if they liked the service and if they could please review it. Some buyers might not be back for a few weeks and they will see your PM when they return. If you've done the work that was agreed upon, went above and beyond, and the work was amazing then you'll usually get a positive review and maybe a recommendation!
Boosting/Paying for top service placement helps a lot
It's not a secret that paying for top placements within freelancing marketplaces will get you some additional sales, so I'm not going to stick on this point for long.
You can do a homepage feature, which is on a bidding system so the top big gets the placement, or you can do a category feature that gets less traffic but will still increase your sales. Bumping and highlighting your services won't get you as much attention but they could help you get a few more sales each month.
In conclusion,
If you were to implement all of the above points, you would definitely increase your sales. You won't get rich overnight because you'll need to build up your reviews and get repeat clients but this is a journey to success
If you can take your time, edit your services so they're perfect, then you'll usually boost your sales. If all of that doesn't work, then you can add on some advertising and really kick it up a notch!
Thanks for reading
- Tommy Carey
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey
