Branding & Cats

Recently I’ve read some good advice, mostly to do with branding, and decided to follow it. It’s still work in progress, it always is, but the first steps are made.

So, what’s it about?

Fiverr gig pictures, plus gig description rewriting. Mostly pictures, because humans are very visual, and because gig pictures that are in some way consistent (for example, having the same theme) can definitely help seller’s branding, and hopefully, make the seller more successful. This, by the way, goes for pretty much everything, not just Fiverr and freelancing: consistent branding helps people remember you, makes them like you better (assuming they like you at all), and makes them feel like they know you and like they can trust you.

In my case, that means cats. I’m Catwriter, after all. And let me tell you, even though internet is full of cat pictures, finding the ones that are suitable for my needs AND free to use for commercial purposes wasn’t easy. I’ve managed to find some, and you can see the results, including the one that required some creativity when deciding what to write on it.

Enjoy in the kitties!

P.S. Yes, this post is also an excuse to post cat pictures, because cats. Once again, enjoy!

Endings and Experiments

I find it difficult to believe that Game of Thrones has ended.

Nothing to do with Fiverr, I know, but still. I was basically just waiting for it to be over, but still.

It's a strange feeling. It's been around for years, I've watched it, a lot of people I personally know watched it, and now it's over.

No, I don't hate the ending. I know that some people do, but I don't. I don't exactly like how they got to that ending, but hey, it is what it is.

And the watch has ended.

***

Anyway, back to Fiverr stuff. I've activated some of the old gigs, just like I said:

Video Scripts

Music Video Scripts

About Us Pages

I've had trouble with some of them in the past, enough to pause them even before the full-time job; hopefully I've learned a few things since then, and hopefully I'll be able to handle the problems if they arise again. We'll see. It's an experiment of sorts, to see what works.

Anything else?

Yes, tests!

I've been playing with tests on Fiverr. English and web content writing tests brought me high scores, as expected; the main problem with copywriting and freelance writing tests were the questions about Microsoft Word 10 features, because I don't use MS Word, I use LibreOffice Writer, plus I don't use the features mentioned in the test. Oh, and there's the fact that I'm not a copywriter, too (still, I managed to pass the test, and rank among the top 20%). I also did the SEO skill assessment test; I only know some SEO basics, and I've managed to pass. Not bad. I might do some more tests, both for fun and because displaying test results could be useful in some cases.

Definitely for fun. Having fun with your work is important!

Fear and Loathing on Fiverr

First time when it happened, I was petrified...

All right, not exactly petrified, but every Fiverr seller knows what I'm talking about: the first negative review, which happened while I was still fairly new. The ARS (the 5 stars system instead of thumbs up and thumbs down) was also new, and everyone was desperately trying to keep their 100% rating. People kept saying that everything lower than 100% rating was a complete disaster for a new seller, and being new, I believed them.

Now, on other freelancing sites, a rating of 95% is excellent. I believe that time will come when the same will be true for Fiverr. However, that time isn't here yet, and while I know now that one negative rating would have just slowed me down, not ruined my business on Fiverr, back then, I was worried. Saying that I experienced fear and loathing would be exaggerating, but hey, I'm a writer and a blogger, so I'm allowed to exaggerate.

Anyway, here's what happened: I discovered that I got a 1 star rating for an About Us page I've written for a client. No explanation, no modification requests, nothing. My first impulse was to answer his feedback with my own 1 star rating, explaining that the buyer never even tried to communicate after placing the order, and that he sent me very little information to begin with. I calmed myself down and messaged the buyer instead, asking about his reasons and why he didn't request me to revise the page. He said he thought about asking for a modification, but the page was terrible, it had numerous grammar errors (actually, there was a single typo), the vocabulary was terrible, it was useless to his company (all of this written in not so good English). So, I do the next smart thing and initiate the mutual cancellation, apologizing for wasting his time and offering a refund because my writing was useless to him. That would be it, i thought.

It wasn't. He refused the cancellation. They were going to use some parts of the page I sent him, he said. Some parts of a 296 words page? I didn't ask him that, of course; that would have been unprofessional. Instead, I asked him to remove the negative rating, because the page wasn't so useless, after all. He accepted, but discovered the option to do so was gone. So, I asked him to contact Fiverr Customer Support (I did the same myself), because at that point, that was the only way to remove the bad rating. He did, and I sighed with relief, thinking that it was over.

It wasn't.

He rated the work I sent him with 4.5 stars. It's not a bad rating as such, but it still lowered my overall rating and decreased my chances at success, or so I thought at the time. So, I patiently explained to him what the problem was, and he agreed to contact the Customer Support again. They removed his rating. Then he demanded that I write him a better page than the one I sent him. He did so much for me, he said, he deserved a flawless page. And, he would rate me based on the page I sent him. This time, he sent me more information, as well as some examples of the pages he liked. I did the page again, and I got 5 stars.

Finally.

This entire story went on for a few days. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it taught me a few things. One was not to panic about bad ratings. After all the back-and-forth, I simply can't be bothered to panic about such things anymore. Panic is useless; it's much better to move on, and to keep delivering the best work I can. In the end, the results will show, which is another thing that this experience taught me: one bad rating, or even several bad ratings, don't destroy someone's business on Fiverr. They make it a bit more difficult, but if the sellers explains their side of the story, reasonable buyers will still work with them.

And another, very important thing I've learned from experience with this buyer and several others: never, ever accept to work on the order without enough information. I've tried to improvise, or to write general pages about this or that type of business, but the buyers who are unwilling to provide me with enough information about their businesses (see what kind of information I need) tend to be unsatisfied no matter what I do. It's better to initiate the cancellation immediately with a list of questions (cancellation can be aborted once the buyers sends the answers), so that the buyer either sends the info, or accepts the cancellation and moves on.

Live and learn. I've survived, learned something, and got a story to tell.

Gig Time: About Us Pages

My most successful gig on Fiverr is the one for writing About Us pages. It's not a surprise; many businesses and fansites need them, and as a storyteller, I don't find it difficult to write, basically, a story about a certain business or a passion project (or both at the same time).

What surprised me when I was still new was that some clients thought it wasn't necessary to provide me with information about their business or website. They'd tell me a sentence or two, and maybe send me a link to a Lorem Ipsum website. What was I supposed to do with that? I'm a writer, not a psychic. I tried my best, but quickly learned that, no matter how hard I tried, such clients were not satisfied. Now, when clients don't send me enough information to work with, I ask them for more, and if they still don't send it, I cancel the order.

The information can be in broken English, and/or all over the place. As long as I can understand it and as long as it's there, I can work with it, and shape it into a compelling page.

It took some trial and error until I came up with a solid list of questions to ask the clients. If you need me to write an About Us page for your website, the information I usually ask for is:

• the name of the business/website/project/person I should write about, and the website link, if available
• what does your company do, where is it located, and what area do you cover with your services
• the products or services you provide (at least several specific ones, if possible)
• why are the products or services you provide important, and who is your target audience
• what sets you apart from your competition (that is, why would someone buy from you instead of your competitors)
• what is your vision, what do you dream of, what do you hope to accomplish
• what are your short-term and long-term goals

When I get that information, I use it to create a page called About Us which actually speaks about the website visitors: what you can do for them,  why are your products or services important to them (how they solve their problems with as little hassle as possible), why they should choose you instead of your competitors, and what a great person or team you are, caring, helpful, nice, wonderful to work with. Because that's what your visitors care about: themselves, what you can do for them, and are you willing to put some effort into delivering.

People tend to love such pages. Not everyone will like my style, of course, and I will revise or refund when needed, but most find my texts better than expected.

To get an idea about my style, see the Samples page, and keep in mind that I'm like a chameleon: I adapt to the tone and voice of the client, or the content already on their website (if different from the client's voice), or I adopt the tone and the voice the client wants me to adopt. Every business is different, and I do my best to adjust.

That's it for today. Until next time!