How to Make Money on Fiverr as a Freelancer

Fiverr’s freelance marketplace lets you promote specific services you want to sell to the people and companies who are in the market for them. Here’s how successful freelancers make money on Fiverr.

Fiverr is a freelance marketplace where independent contractors can find work by setting up individual gigs and taking orders for specific assignments. Unlike other freelance marketplaces where freelancers bid on projects or showcase their portfolios in hopes of obtaining new clients, Fiverr [affiliate link] provides a means for independent contractors to get jobs by showcasing specific types of projects and selling those projects to companies in the market for them.

What Are Fiverr Gigs?

Fiverr gigs are specific tasks and placed within categories. For instance, a specific gig in the Graphics & Design category might be “create a print book cover for fiction writers.” In the Writing & Translation category, a freelancer may offer a gig specifically for blog posts of 500-700 words. The more specific the gig offered, the better your chances at finding the right clients.

Fiverr’s categories include:

• Graphics & Design
• Digital Marketing
• Writing & Translation
• Video & Animation
• Music & Audio
• Programming & Tech
• Business
• Lifestyle

In each of these categories are subcategories to allow independent contractors to drill down to more specific and granular gig offerings.

3 Fiverr Verticals Freelancers Can Use to Find Clients

Fiverr has come a long way since its humble beginnings. When the service first began, gig workers offered specific gigs for $5 each. Later, Fiverr created add-ons so that freelancers could earn up to $50 per gig. Now, independent contractors can offer individual gigs in the thousands of dollars, if they qualify.

These three Fiverr verticals offer freelancers better terms than the general Fiverr marketplace:

Fiverr Pro

Fiverr Pro is Fiverr’s premium marketplace service. It doesn’t cost anything to join, but contractors must apply to become a part of the marketplace. It’s so exclusive that Fiverr claims only 1 percent of applicants are approved. Once approved, freelancers are assigned a coach to help them learn how to write a good gig, market the gig, and succeed as a Fiverr Pro professional. The coach will answer your questions for a few weeks before turning you loose on your own.

The big benefit to Fiverr Pro is that freelancers can offer their premium services for top dollar to companies willing to pay professional rates. This elevates the contractor from the $5 to $50 range of services to offering services within the range of hundreds and thousands of dollars. One downside I’ve seen is if you don’t check in with your Fiverr Pro account and don’t receive any sales during a certain period of time, Fiverr automatically pauses your gigs. That’s more than a little inconvenient.

Fiverr Studios

Fiverr Studios is a new Fiverr vertical and still in beta. The interesting twist on this gig marketplace offering is that it consists of a Studio lead, which is an approved Fiverr professional who sets up the Studio, and Studio professionals who are allowed to join the Studio team. The Studio lead sets up a gig, invites other sellers to join the team, and markets that gig as a team project to gig buyers.

This is a powerful way to market professional services on Fiverr, but it is a new marketplace offering and not open to all Fiverr sellers.

Fiverr Logo Maker

Fiverr Logo Maker allows graphic design sellers a way to create a logo design and then find a buyer for it. Essentially, designers create a template and buyers add their custom information when they buy the logo and download their design within minutes. Fiverr Logo Maker allows graphic designers to do the work once and get paid multiple times for the same work.

How to Use Fiverr to Sell Your Services

The first step to making money on Fiverr [affiliate link] is to create an account. Inside your account are some great tools to help you optimize your gigs and your seller profile. One of those is an analytics tool that shows you how many times each gig has been viewed and sold.

Fiverr operates on a status system. All Fiver contractors begin at Level 1. After a few gigs and some successful customer interactions, contractors can move up to Level 2. After a while, Levels 3 and 4 are achievable. Each Level adds more perks for the freelancer with opportunities to create add-on services for each gig and earn more money. Also, the best Fiverr freelancers can apply to join one of the above-mentioned verticals to earn more money from their gigs.

Three Key Strategies for Selling on Fiverr

1. Optimize your gigs. Sellers who do well learn to optimize their Fiverr gigs by including portfolio items that showcase their best work and video presentations, which have become powerful selling tools on Fiverr. You can also add an FAQ to each of your gigs.
2. Offer packages of services. Fiverr allows contractors a means of offering packages. The most successful Fiverr freelancers learn to write basic, standard, and premium packages that add value to buyers by offering add-ons, legal rights, and other specific services of buyer interest to each gig on the platform. Sellers can also request that buyers contact them first by direct message in order to discuss a buyer’s needs before the buyer places an order. This allows you to conduct some customer service and, if necessary, create a custom offer to fulfill a customer’s interest based on that conversation.
3. Differentiate yourself. The best way to stand out as a Fiverr seller is to offer a specific gig that is not offered by other sellers but is in high demand and to price your gigs competitively. That’s easier said than done, however, because freelance marketplaces are notorious for creating a “race to the bottom” where buyers look for the lowest price rather than the highest value. In my experience, however, it’s better to compete on value than on price. Look for ways to offer better value to your customers and you’ll do well at any freelance marketplace.

Working with Fiverr Clients

All work on Fiverr is done through the platform. You cannot share your personal information (phone number, email address, etc.) with potential clients. That could get you banned.

If a client is not satisfied with your work, they can contact you for revisions. Many freelancers offer extra revisions for a fee in their gigs to protect themselves from clients who will abuse the privilege. Fiverr does have a resolution center buyers and sellers can use to settle disputes.

How and When You Get Paid on Fiverr

When buyers place an order on Fiverr, they pay for the gig at that time, and Fiverr holds the money in escrow. When the order is delivered, they release 80 percent of the fee to the seller. Sellers can withdraw their funds through PayPal, bank direct deposit, or a Fiver revenue card. Sellers can withdraw a maximum of $5,000 from their Fiverr accounts every 24 hours.

Have Realistic Expectations

While Fiverr can be lucrative, I wouldn’t expect it to be your most lucrative marketing channel right away. It takes time to build your reputation and clientele. I’d also recommend that you seek clients through more than one revenue channel. One of those can be Fiverr as it has proven itself to have staying power in the marketplace of freelance marketplaces.