I just realized that I hadn’t written about Fiverr.com yet and it’s one of my go-to outsourcing solutions. I’ve been using Fiverr.com since it’s early days. As the name implies Fiver is an outsourcing marketplace for almost anything you can imaging for only $5. It has changed a bit since it’s original inception. Almost all Gigs (as they are referred) have $5 as the base offering. Occasionally I go with just the base offering, but more often than not I’m purchasing add-ons that push the price into the $10-20 range.
What can you really get for $5
Here’s a few of the things I’ve used Fiverr.com for over the years:
- article writing
- custom videos
- custom songs
- book covers
- image editing
- Search engine marketing (SEO)
- Link building
Fiverr.com is a bit of a mixed bag. First it is a marketplace so you are searching through thousands of offerings in multiple categories. The site has a variety of ranking factors so you can search based on popularity, reviews, etc. so it is somewhat self policing from a quality perspective. Overall I’ve been very pleased with the quality of the products and services that I have purchased. There’s been a few duds over the years but you have to look at it as a learning experience.
Seller Motivation
You can get some really good deals on certain services. Most sellers are using Fiverr.com is an entree into a sales funnel to larger projects. It’s the $5 version of the free sample. I’ve found this generally from seasoned providers in western countries. For other parts of the world, $5 is a lot of money. It does help to pay attention to where the providers are from and read reviews. While I don’t see it as much any more, there used to be a lot of copycat providers who would simply copy a popular service profile and make it their own. Their pitch might have been good, but in many cases they didn’t have the skills for what they were offering. Through reviews and time the heard has been thinned quite a bit, and in some cases these providers have learned their craft and now are as good as they said they were in the beginning. Another niche area is college students. They might not self identify as such for a variety of reasons, but most of these individuals are honing their craft and building a portfolio. I had one student in England that did some original music for me that was truly album worthy.
Know the rules
Read the terms of use for the things that you re buying. You may or may not own the rights to the entire work. If you aren’t careful you may just own it for a particular use. You also should know how Fiverr.com works for sellers. In the beginning there was a ranking algorithm that took into account time to complete and cancellations. So if an offer was more popular than the seller’s ability to meet it, they would actually get penalized by cancellations. It doesn’t work that way anymore, but some sellers still think it does.
Be sure to read all the instructions because some sellers will ask that you contact them first before ordering. You may have to hunt around on the page to find the contact link, but it may save you some headaches. I made the mistake once of ordering something where the seller had asked to be contacted first. Rather than getting the usual “thank you for your order…” I got a “what the “F” are you doing. You are going to destroy my business…”. I went back and forth a couple times with this guy trying to explain Fiverr.com doesn’t work that way any more, but he didn’t want to let it go and I eventually just stopped responding. Needless to say, I found someone else to do the work.
What works best?
That’s sort of like asking what ice cream flavor is best. With thousands of sellers, you may need to try a few to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Check out the portfolios of their past work to get a sense of the quality of their work. The one area that I haven’t had good luck has been article writing. I don’t know that that is indicative of the site, but I’ve found better writing elsewhere. Things that I have had good luck with have been services where the provider has some tool or skill that I don’t have myself. It makes more sense for me to spend $5 for something when I need it rather than subscribe to a service like animoto.com that I wouldn’t use all the time. Give them a try and see what happens.
