If done well, freelancing can be a rewarding career that offers a decent salary, flexible hours and the ability to be your own boss. However, starting out can be difficult to say the least. Here are a few tips to help you with getting that first bid.

1. Although experience, ratings, reviews and price are important factors in freelancing it must not be regarded as a first priority.
2. Show interest in the project. Ask questions. Clients want to feel as if their project is important to you. Asking questions shows the client that you have interest in the work they present
3. Freelancing is a business. As a business, excellent service is a first priority. Let your personality show. Be friendly, but do inappropriate. Remember to be professional at all times.
4. As mentioned, price is not the first priority but it is important though. Deciding on a proper pricing structure that is competitive is not very easy and requires proper research.  Fortunately, the majority of freelancing sites allows you to change your bids. When deciding on a bid, be fair to yourself as a freelancer. You don’t want to work for nothing, but you also do not want overbid and lose a project.
5. When freelancing, your job is to provide the best product you can offer. Therefore, if you have suggestions that may make the product better, communicate your suggestion with your buyer. This will not only earn trust, but will earn you more freelancing jobs in the future.
6. As in life, in freelancing, honesty is certainly the best policy. If you are unable to complete any part of the project, disagree with the deadline, etc.
7. Part of being successful in freelancing is having a proper portfolio. If you were seeking any other job, you would not walk in, requesting employment empty-handed. You would have a resume. Well, in freelancing, your portfolio serves as your resume.
8. One of the best qualities of a freelancer is a positive attitude and patience. Being successful in freelancing will take time. You must build a reputation based on personality, fairness, service, honesty and professionalism.

How do you think the ideal bid should look like? What is the most important – the price, the links to your previous freelance work or the ratings you have on that specific freelance site?

None of the above.

The buyers definitely want to know about your experience, ratings and reviews and for sure they want to know your price. But none of this is the most important thing. There is something else, something which makes them choose you and no one else.

Ask Questions

Uh?! Simple as that? Well, it may not be as simple. Why ask questions at first place?

Asking questions shows that you are really interested in the project and that you understand the basics of it. It shows that you really care about your customer’s need and want to hear exactly what he or she wants.

This is what your potential customer is looking for – someone who actually cares for them. By asking questions about some specifics in the project you show your interest and care. Always try to ask a good question and at the same time show that you understand the other aspects of the project.

Ok, but you know, the winning bid has more characteristics than just asking questions.

Be Friendly

Providing freelance services is just a business like any other. But who said the business communication should be impersonal and dry? The Net business and especially the freelance websites are more informal environment. Don’t be dry, be friendly.

Start with “Hello”, “Hi there” and if possible address the client’s name – like “Hello James,”, “Hi Patrick”, “Dear Kate” etc. Avoid impersonal things like “Greetings” for example.

How to know the buyer’s name? Well, many of them sign themselves under the project description. If not, check their reviews. If the buyer is not new for that freelance marketplace, chances are that some of the previous reviewers may have addressed the buyer by name in the review (ex. “Bill is a great customer…”). Always spend the time to do that, it is well worth it!

I avoid appeals which create the feeling for standing below the buyer. I have never addressed them with “Dear sir” for example, but in some countries it is accepted as normal appeal, so you have to decide yourself on that.

Definitely stay away from too familiar openings like “Yo”, “Hya” or something like that – you may find it funny, but I have seen such bids.

Give a Quote

I know I said the price is not the most important, but it is probably the second of importance. I also know it is sometimes hard to give the exact price, especially if you have questions. And you must have questions

But all freelance sites allow you to change your bid at any time, until bidding is open. So try giving an approximate quote just so the buyer knows what to expect. Many freelance buyers ignore bids which don’t contain price information. So give one – better be safe than sorry.

Obviously most customers look for low prices, but don’t think that the lowest price is the best. If you underestimate your skills, what would you do with their project? Most serious buyers think that way.

Just give a fair quote. Certainly there are customers who will choose the lowest bidders, but do you really want to work for them? No, this is not for you. You are here to be a successful and well paid freelancer, not just to survive.

Give Suggestions and Ideas

Ok, ideas are not free, but I don’t mean to give them detailed plan of what to do. Just suggest the customer some way to achieve the goal, to improve the product, site or design they want created. This way you show not only your expertise, but that you are willing to make their product better.

For example many freelance buyers ask about sites with forums. You can always suggest to use some free open-source forum to reduce the cost and development time. Or if you are a designer, suggest them some usability features for their site.

Be Honest

Look, I am not your moral mentor. It’s not about moral. Being honest is the best business and persuasive tactic. If the client feels that you are lying them for something, forget doing business with him. People hate being lied.

On the other hand, giving honestly your position and sharing your honest opinion (in an appropriate way and voice) earns you trust immediately.

If you don’t know about some technology, be honest about that in the bid. If you don’t think you can meet the deadline, explain this in the bid. Just be honest.

In most cases this is all you need to win a bid. It’s not a magic, neither requires some great copyrighting skills. More than 90% of the freelancers don’t follow even one of these guidelines. Following them all together makes you stand out from 99% of the competition. The choice is yours.

Portfolio is the answer to your question. Just like creating a powerful resume or CV, your portfolio should offer your best qualification to the client. Fortunately, those who are deeply engaged in freelance online careers have the chance to make use of the online portfolio-maker. These pre-programmed portfolio builder are good for a starter. But if you think that you have more than what the portfolio-builder has, have the liberty to create a powerful portfolio.

Don’t forget to include the following details:

• Academic competencies
• Skills and talents in achieving 100% success in projects
• Experience in similar jobs
• Specific expertise that clients would love to know
• Sample works are critically important

Remember, your portfolio carries your future freelance career. Make it one of your obra maestra, create a powerful portfolio and sell your service effectively.

Easier said than done you say. Yes, it’s true that to create a portfolio is easier to say and the action that follows makes it really harder. This is especially true if you have too much or less information in your mind that you loose focus on what to put on your portfolio.
Online freelancers like you have greater chances of creating a flawless portfolio. The reason is that most of the free career-oriented websites have embedded online portfolio already. This allows users, job seekers in particular, to save their portfolios in the same site. What if no available pre-programmed portfolio available? What if you dislike the online portfolio structure?
This calls for your innovation. Follow the 1-2-3 steps of creating a powerful freelance portfolio and close that deal in your freelance career:

1. Clearly state your objectives. Use brief and powerful professional words.
2. Brag and be proud about your works. Give clients an idea on how you delivered successful projects.
3. Simple yet flawless portfolio structure. Always aim for simplicity but have a lasting impact.

• Work with people having professional approach and positive attitude and respect your abilities and efforts. Discontinue working with clients who are negative in approach, difficult to contact and fault finders only.

• Clarify all the terms and conditions before starting any project. Get all your queries cleared in the beginning to avoid any misunderstanding later.

• Promise and accept a realistic deadline. Promising a project to be submitted on a deadline which is impossible to achieve will only make things worse for you. Whatever deadline you have set for the project, stick to it.

• Discuss the project in detail with the client. This will help you delivering the project exactly as per his specific requirements.

• Keep your client updated of the progress of his progress. It would be better to submit a small sample in the starting than submitting the complete project at a time.

• Make the payment terms very clear. This is the thing where most service providers face problems. Ideally request him to escrow the funds on acceptance of the project.