How To Win Bids On Elance

If you are a writer, web designer or a virtual assistant, you can apply for jobs at Elance. You should know how to win bids on Elance if you are going to get a job that you really desire, and for which you feel you are qualified. Winning your first bid and getting a review are the most difficult tasks on this site. Once you have your first review, you have a better chance of getting additional jobs, as long as you know some techniques for writing a winning bid.

 Instructions
 1 Sign up for a membership with Elance. You will be given the option to pay for a subscription. If you pay for a subscription, you are entitled to unlimited bids. If you are a free subscription holder, you are limited to a certain number of bids each month. Paid subscriptions also rank higher on the leaderboard.

2 Take an admission test. The test is about site concepts, and the Elance University page will cover everything that you need to know prior to taking the test. You are tested on your understanding of how the system works in terms of the Help section, Terms of Service and the Provider Guide.

3 Set up your profile and work experience. This is vital to winning bids. Your skills should be comprised of skills that you have performed and excelled at in the past. List all of the software you can use. Give details of your experience, without revealing personal information about the companies for which you have worked in the past. List any schooling you may have had that pertains to any position you are qualified to undertake. Add a logo or a picture to your profile, so that a potential client can put a picture with a name.

4 Look for jobs for which you are qualified, and not jobs that you think you may be able to do. If your profile does not match the job for which you are applying, you will more than likely not win the bid. For instance, if you set up your own website with a web-hosting site such as Hostgator, this does not make you a web developer, or qualified to design a website for a client.

5 Write a winning bid. Give a detailed account of what you will do, and how you will do it. The potential client is looking for someone who takes the time to explain how he will do the job. Be specific. Do not say that you can do the job better than anyone else.

6 Offer a bid that is competitive, but not so low as to seem desperate to get the job. If you have done this type of work before, you know how much time is needed, and what it costs to perform the work. For instance, if you want to write for someone who needs 50 articles of 400 words, you need to price it accordingly. Never lower your standards to get a job. You know what your work is worth. Explain why you are charging this price in the bid write-up.

7 Show a sample of your work without being asked. Clients like a bidder who takes the initiative to show them a sample of her work. This shows that you cover all the bases, and would do the same in your work, as well.