How to get started with Fiverr and make your first sale

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably thinking to yourself “I want to get started with Fiverr, but I don’t know how” or “I don’t even know what services to offer, what should I do?”.

I, like you, had these exact thoughts in my head. I spent years wanting to get started with Fiverr but wasn’t sure what to offer. A few years ago, I tried “I will create a WordPress landing page”, and had a few inquiries, but they all looked too scary, and I never replied.

This year, I started watching TikTok videos like most other people spending their time in quarantine would. I saw a few videos appear from Alex Fasulo and was inspired by her. It made me rethink my current situation and what I could do with a Fiverr profile. After taking a look at my existing profile, I decided to close it down and start again with a new account. I made it look more professional. Stats were also reset which I could only see as a positive since I had abandoned.

She recommends that whenever you create a gig, you should create all three packages (Basic, Standard, and Premium). I started the basic at $5, Standard at $15 and Premium at $45. After receiving a handful of sales and 5-star reviews, I decided to up my from to $10, $25 and $50 respectfully. Once I’ve received some more clients and 5-star reviews, then I’ll put up my price again until I’m eventually where the top sellers are pricing their gigs.

The great thing about Fiverr is that anyone can start selling services, and you don’t even have to know how to code. I’m a developer who can code, but the service I offer requires minimal coding skills. My gig is about creating and hosting your landing page, and I don’t use WordPress or any personal hosting.

First, you need to figure out what to sell. What services can you offer that requires minimal effort and the most enjoyment? It can be anything from web development services to voice-overs, from Graphic design to video animation.

For my gig, I chose “Creating and Hosting your landing page”, and to fulfil my service, I use a landing page website called Carrd. It’s a straightforward drag-and-drop landing page creator, and I’ve made a handful of sites with it, with ease.

If you wanted to transcribe or add subtitles to a video, you could offer that as a service. This service would be as simple as uploading the video to YouTube privately and using the auto transcribe service to add subtitles. Now it won’t be perfect, and you will need to edit the subtitles, but once you’ve finished, you can download it as a text file and send that back to your client.

You could help create newsletters for clients using whichever service they have chosen. People will often sign up to these services and have no idea what they’re doing. I’ve had one client who asked that I log in to their account to create a simple form. I created it within half-an-hour and completed the gig for $5. It seemed like I was cheating, but the client was pleased and gave me a 5-star rating so that it can be an easy gig for you to earn money.

Before creating any gigs, you’ll first want to register an account with Fiverr. The process is simple, and it gives you a chance to describe who you are and what it is you do. I’d suggest taking a look at profiles who are selling similar gigs to you and getting a feel for what their profile looks like. You can take a look at mine if it helps you out.

Add all the skills which you find relevant to your profile and make sure they’re relevant to the gigs you’re offering. There’s no point in putting “copyrighting” down if you aren’t offering any gigs which use that as a skill.

Once you have decided what gig(s) you have chosen, it’s time to create them. Alex recommends creating a bunch of them so you can gain more potential buyers, but I decided to stick to just one gig. Of course, this is entirely up to you, and if you want to stick to one like me, then you’re more than welcome. Otherwise, you can go ahead and create as many as your imagination or the Fiverr platform allows.

When creating your gig, it’s important to remember all the details, and you should always create all three packages to maximise potential earnings. Also remember to include extras, if you’re not sure how you should price them, then take a look at someone’s gig and copy theirs. I had the base prices set to $5, $15, and $45, and whacked a higher sale price on extras which you can view here.

Fiverr gives you tools to make your description stand out, and you can make text bold, underline text, and even highlighted. I recommend you use the highlight function to add focus to the essential points in your description. Take a look at other gigs to see how they’ve done this, and again, you can see how mine is formatted. It’s best to be concise, but try to bring in some character and be friendly. Don’t just go with the corporate dribble, add a little bit of your personality to it, and it will attract more sales.

Don’t be scared to share your gigs on Facebook, Twitter, a personal newsletter. Share anywhere that makes sense. Your friends or family might even see your gig and think “Oh, I totally need that right now”. If that happens, make sure they buy through Fiverr, otherwise, you won’t get boost up their search, and they won’t be able to leave a review for you.

I know it seems counterintuitive since Fiverr takes a cut, but it will help you out in the long run for attracting new clients.

This is important! Make sure you download the app so you can respond to messages. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the app and a lot of hours went by before I replied to my first client, which has affected my response rate negatively and may have hurt me a little (it’s currently sat at 86% and should be 90% or above to stay in the green). I didn’t want the app at first because I was worried it would be “just another app sat on my phone”, but it has been very very helpful in responding to customers and potential customers alike.

If you want to help boost your profile and gigs up the search, then it’s recommended you take, and complete a few of their tests. So far, I have completed one test, but I believe it has helped boost me up. If you’d like to know, it was the English test which I completed, and as a native English speaker, I found it relatively straightforward and received a 9.2 out of 10 which is in the top 20% of users.

I’m going to take some more technical based tests to help boost my profile even further, and I recommend you take as many as you feel comfortable doing.

If you enjoyed this post and got something out of it, then please feel to share with your network. I create a lot of informational posts, and it would mean a lot if you subscribed to my newsletter. You can also leave me feedback on my Twitter profile or in the comments section below. I’ve also been on the app for 45 days and earned $52 so far.