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How To Bid Successfully On Freelance Writing Jobs
by Bill Purkins

There are many sites on the Internet besides www.WriteAndGetPaidToday.com where you can secure freelance writing work. On most of these sites though, you have to sell yourself, by bidding on projects and being awarded the work in an auction style. This means you have to be a salesman as well as a writer, and to be successful as a freelancer, you've really got to polish your salesmanship. This how-to therefore, is designed to give your salesmanship a boost and help you win more bids, by following a few simple rules. And believe me, they ARE simple. If you don't keep it simple, you are in trouble. So, here goes:

1. There is no such thing as a small job. Ignore the price tag when you are selling your skills as a writer. Whether the job is for 15 dollars or fifteen hundred, it is important to the buyer, otherwise they would not be seeking a professional writer to meet their needs.

2. Never, ever, sell yourself as a part-timer, even if you are. To the buyer, you must be perceived as a professional, which you are if you take money for what you write.

3. Never work on spec, that is, offer to write in advance for free to demonstrate your skills. It smacks of amateurism, and possibly might lead to an unscrupulous buyer scamming you. There are such dishonest people out there, you know. Your portfolio samples should be enough to demonstrate your wares. If you are new to the game, write some articles as if they were for publication and use those as your samples until you build up a history of successful jobs.

4. Build your portfolio from your best ratings. Many if not most Internet sites allow the buyer to rate you on your performance and your writing and you should build your samples based on your 10 ratings.

5. Never write a query letter longer than one page. Keep it brief. Introduce yourself, qualify yourself as an experienced writer with the skills and desire to do the job at a reasonable rate and leave it at that.

6. Refine your sales pitches to a few standard ones, and use them as the model for each pitch, modifying slightly or writing an up front sentence or two specific to the job and letting your stock form letter do its job. Remember, there is nothing wrong in reusing a proven pitch time and time again, just don't get lazy and fail to address the buyer's specific needs when necessary. Sometimes a stock pitch is enough, sometimes not. Let common sense rule.

7. Keep score. Keep a notepad at least of how many jobs you bid on and how many you win and periodically figure out your scoring percentage with each stock sales letter and/or technique that you use and then refine them to increase your average. Bear in mind that you have a lot of competition and that a site like Rentacoder gets an average of 12.4 bids per job in the first 24 hours, so on average, a freelancer wins only 8 % of their bids. My batting average is closer to 18.5 %, and it's because I follow these rules.

8. Bid on everything that you are capable of doing, not just the jobs that sound like the most fun.

9. Treat each job with respect and tender loving care. You never know which ones will turn into long term recurring income opportunities.

10. Don't quit your day job unless or until you are steadily making more from freelancing. Be diligent and bid competitively, but don't give it away. Stick to your guns with your pricing and eventually the work will come your way if you deserve it.

...the end...