After making more than $100,000 on the popular freelance platform Upwork, I wanted to see if Fiverr has the same potential to make money as a freelancer. So I gave this platform a test run a few months ago but what happened during this time truly surprised me (spoiler: in a very positive way!). In this Fiverr review, I want to share with you my Fiverr experiences and explain in detail how to make money on Fiverr (even as a beginner with little to no skills).
Side note: This is a massive guide on how to start selling on Fiverr. So if you don’t have that much time right now, feel free to bookmark this blog post to come back later or check out the table of contents to skip right to the section that interests you most. :)
Table of Contents
What Is Fiverr?
Let’s start with the basics.
Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services. Sellers can list their services, which are referred to as “gigs”, to earn money. Most of the time the gigs are small one-off jobs that can be done within a few days.
You can find jobs in any category, like content writing, programming, design, translations, or virtual assistance. There is hardly any category of online jobs that you can’t find on Fiverr.
How Does Fiverr Work?
Fiverr works by bringing two parties together: Buyers and Sellers.
As a seller, you create gigs offering your online services, for example, proofreading. Buyers then browse through the listings of all sellers who offer proofreading gigs and can decide where they place their order.
Once they have booked your gig, they send you the details and you can start working. Once the buyer approves our delivery, you get paid.
The buyer also gets to leave a review about your work on your profile. This helps other buyers evaluate your quality of work.
My Fiverr Experience: Is Fiverr Worth It?
As said before, I’ve made some great experiences with another popular freelance platform called Upwork. If you want to read more about it, check out my Upwork review. Now I wanted to see if I could potentially replicate my success with Fiverr.
After all, I have been using Fiverr for years but as a buyer. I like working with Fiverr freelancers for various tasks for my business so I wanted to see the seller side of it.
So a few months ago I created a profile and two gigs on Fiverr, selling my services as a German content writer. Of course, I did quite a bit of research beforehand on how to create the best Fiverr profile and how to create profitable Fiverr gigs. So I was well prepared.
The day after I created the profile, I received my first message from a potential buyer who needed help with his content writing job. Unfortunately, it was not what I’m specialized in so I politely declined.
Soon after the next request popped up that resulted in my first paid gig. I delivered one day later and my client was happy with the delivery and gave me my first 5-star-review. That was quick!
In the following days, I received numerous messages from other potential clients and more orders. Since there were so many messages and order requests, I had to pause my account after only two weeks! I was simply overwhelmed with the messages and orders and wasn’t able to do them justice.
After all, I didn’t have the time to work on any freelance platform part-time (let alone full-time). I just wanted to see the seller side of Fiverr and see how hard it is to start selling on Fiverr.
So while I don’t have any long-term experience as a Fiverr seller, my very short-lived time on this platform was surely intense and in combination with my experience as a buyer, I think I can give you some valuable tips.
How to Start Selling on Fiverr? Step-by-Step Guide
Now let’s look into what you need to do to get started. Here is the process on how to start selling on Fiverr:
Step 1: Sign Up on Fiverr
Pretty self-explanatory. Head over to the Fiverr website, click on “Join” in the top right corner, and register following the steps.
Step 2: Create a Seller Profile
Once you are logged in, you click on your profile image in the top right corner and pick “Profile”. Here you can set up your profile texts and images.
- Image: I highly recommend you to use an actual photo of yourself. Choose a professional one where you are smiling. Alternatively, you could also use an avatar image that looks like you. I don’t recommend using a general image, e.g. of a laptop. As a buyer, I always find it easier to trust a seller if I can see his or her face and know who I’m talking to.
- Description: If you scroll down, you can also add a description of yourself and your experiences. Make sure that this text is not only about you but also how your skills help your clients with their projects. If you are a bit lost here, check out other freelancers who work in the same niche. But never copy their texts! Just get inspiration on how to structure your profile text.
- Miscellaneous: Make sure to add the skills you are offering, your education, and, if you have, any certifications. Also connect your (social media) accounts, like Twitter or GitHub. But ONLY if they are professional and you use them for sharing work-related content. If your Facebook account only shows pictures of you partying, don’t connect it!
- Badges: You can also enroll in online courses (you have to pay for them) to improve your skills. Once completed, you get a badge on your profile that shows your expertise. I personally didn’t do any of these and don’t think they are necessary for you to become successful on Fiverr. But if you want to improve your skills anyway, they are surely a nice add-on.
Step 3: Create a Gig
Once your profile is set, it’s time for you to create your first gig.
1. General Fiverr Gig Info
All of the gigs start with “I will…”. Be specific here and create a gig on one service alone. For instance, if you are a content writer don’t say “I will write your texts”. Instead focus on “I will write your blog posts” or “I will write your YouTube video script”, or “I will be your technical content writer”.
Whatever your field of expertise, try to narrow it down. You can (and should) create several gigs reflecting your work portfolio.
Extra Tip: Check what clients are searching for. Simply head to the search bar and type in your skill. What are the service suggestions in the search field? Try to use the exact term in your gig’s title and at the beginning of your description. This helps Fiverr learn what your gig is about so it can show it in the search results if a buyer is looking for it.
Select a category and subcategory that works best for your service. You can add up to 5 search tags. These also help Fiverr categorize your gig correctly.
2. Fiverr Pricing Strategies
The next step is to set your pricing and service packages. For most gigs, Fiverr gives you three options to price your gigs – Basic, Standard, and Premium.
If you are unsure have a look at your competitors and what they are offering. Potential clients check out several freelancers before deciding on the best and it helps them if you are somewhat comparable.
Again, that does not mean you should copy your competitors but get inspiration.
Going back to the content writing example: If all of the competitors in your niche offer to write 500 words for the Basic gig, 1,000 words for the Standard gig, and 2,000 words for the Premium gig, then it might be a good idea if you go for similar word counts.
Offering 50 words, 800 words, and 2,800 words respectively only makes it harder to compare.
And another note: Your first gigs are not about making money. They are about getting reviews.
Let me repeat that because it’s so important: Your first gigs are NOT about making money. They are about getting REVIEWS.
I don’t tell you to work for free but if you are a beginner and want to start selling on Fiverr, you can’t expect high-end rates. Buyers don’t know if you are trustworthy so there is no way they pay you more than your experienced competitors.
Start with lower rates than what you would normally ask for. Again, feel free to check out competitors with similar experience as you have, i.e. beginners (!), and see how they are pricing their services.
Yes, it’s not fun to work for less than what your skills are worth. But you only need to do so in the beginning. Once you have your first good reviews, you can slowly increase your rates.
3. Fiverr Gig Description and FAQs
The next step is to describe your gig in detail.
- Why should they hire you to do the job?
- Why are you qualified?
- What is included in the gig?
- What pain points does the gig solve?
Make it easy for potential buyers to read your description. Use bullet points, numbered lists, or highlighted texts.
Here is an example of the gig description that I used (for inspiration):
Just in case I haven’t mentioned it often enough: Don’t simply copy the text! I’m sure Fiverr can detect copied profiles and gigs. This can result in your gigs not getting shown to buyers which means you won’t get any orders. Write your own descriptions!
Talking about FAQs: Do yourself a favor and list all questions that may come up in the FAQ section below your gig description. This saves you time because otherwise, people will text you asking those questions one by one. And it also helps buyers to better understand your gig and learn what they can expect from you.
4. Fiverr Gig Requirements
In this section, you can list all the requirements that you need from your client. Once they’ve placed an order they need to fill out this list to actually start the order. A few examples:
- As a content writer, you could ask for the title of the text you need to write about.
- If you are a pin designer, you could request your client’s logo that should be shown on the pin.
- As a podcast editor, you need the audio file with the raw material.
- If you work in influencer marketing, you might need more information about the product that should be promoted.
The more details the buyers give you, the quicker you can start working and the better the delivery.
5. Fiverr Gallery
A very important part of your Fiverr gig that many people neglect.
First, you should create a cover image for your gig. The free tool Canva offers many templates and is very easy to use.
Depending on the nature of your service, you could either show examples of your work, e.g. if you are a designer, or you could write down the benefits of your gig. Since these cover images are fairly small in the search results, make sure people can read everything.
You should also upload examples of previous work to your gallery. If you are a new seller, people have no way to judge your skills. So in my opinion, you must create a portfolio. Here are a few ideas:
- If you are a designer, upload examples of your designs, like logos, social media posts, infographics, or pins.
- If you are a video editor, upload short videos that you have edited in the past.
- As a content writer, you can upload a few texts to give potential clients an idea of your writing style.
- As a virtual assistant, you could show profiles of social media accounts you have managed, excel sheets you have compiled, newsletters you have written, or logos of brands you have worked with.
I know that for some categories it is easier to create a visual portfolio than for others. But literally, anything is better than an empty gallery.
Once you have completed your gig, you can hit the “publish” button. That’s it! Now you can start selling on Fiverr.
How to Make Money on Fiverr? 9 Profitable Fiverr Gig Ideas
If you already know what type of service you want to offer on Fiverr, feel free to skip this section.
But if you are right at the beginning and completely lost, you are probably wondering how to make money on Fiverr. What are popular Fiverr niches? What are profitable Fiverr gig ideas? Let’s have a look at a few examples:
1. Website Development
Website development is, just like remote tech jobs in general, an extremely popular way to make money online. You can focus on skills like coding, concept, or bug fixing. Particularly popular are development jobs in the eCommerce business. So if you have any experience in the development field, your skills are in high demand on Fiverr.
2. Content Writing
If you are a talented writer, you can make a decent amount of money on Fiverr. Experienced and fast writers can make up to $250 per hour. Again, you should focus on a niche here. That could be blog post writing, academic writing, writing resumes, sales copywriting for websites, legal or medical writing, or scriptwriting. Pick what you are most experienced in.
3. Graphic Design
As a graphic designer, you have many niches you can focus on. As mentioned earlier, you could work as a designer for social media posts, e.g. Pinterest Pins. You could also design logos or work as a t-shirts designer, go for package designs or poster designs. There are countless opportunities.
4. Video Creation
People consume more and more video content instead of reading texts. That’s why many companies and brands today have YouTube channels or upload explainer videos on their websites or social media accounts. That means there is an extremely high demand for video creators. You could also focus on a certain niche, like animation videos for kids, whiteboard videos, game or book trailers, slideshow videos, or music videos.
5. Social Media and Influencer Marketing
Social media and influencer marketing are more popular than ever before. Some companies use their entire marketing budget just on this type of promotion. This shows the demand for experts in these marketing fields. If you are familiar with this category, you can expect that many clients are looking for help.
6. Voice Overs
Since video creation is a highly popular Fiverr job category, voice-overs are also very much needed. Not everyone has the perfect voice to record a video script or the time to do so. A professional voice-over can make a huge difference in the overall quality of the video. You could again focus on certain niches, e.g. voice-overs for meditation-videos, comic characters, news videos, or information videos.
7. Translation
Are you fluent in another language and enjoy translating? This is also a great way to make money on Fiverr. Many brands are international and need their content to be translated into different languages. If you are experienced in certain niches, for instance, medical or legal translation, you can make a lot of money here.
8. Online Tutoring
Believe it or not but you can even offer tutoring sessions on Fiverr. They might not be as popular as, for instance, graphic design. But that can also be an advantage because you won’t have as much competition. Popular niches could be, for example, math, language, science, or business tutoring.
9. NFT Art
NFTs are one of the most popular trending topics right now. Naturally, this also means that there are plenty of opportunities to make money from it. If you are a talented designer and you can create unique NFT art, you can sell your designs on Fiverr. But you have to be quick. Since this is such a trending niche, there will soon be many freelancers who offer this service and the competition will be overwhelming.
Extra Tip: If you are still unsure how to make money on Fiverr, check out the Fiverr menu bar. There are many job categories listed and you can browse through them to see if there is something you might enjoy doing.
How Much Money Can You Make on Fiverr?
There is no limit. Many people use Fiverr as a profitable online side hustle, others make a full-time income from it. If you manage to position yourself as an expert, your income opportunities are endless.
Let’s look at a few real-life examples:
- Charmaine Pocek makes between $38,000 and $48,000 per month as a career consultant and recruiter.
- Redd Horrocks makes $15,000 per month as a voice-over artist.
- And Alex Fasulo earns $378,000 a year from Fiverr as a content writer.
How to Get More Sales on Fiverr? Important Fiverr Tips
Now you know the basics of how to start selling on Fiverr and how to make money on Fiverr. In this section, I want to give you some additional tips on how to get more sales on Fiverr.
1. Promote your gigs
Once your gig is published, promote it on websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. You could also ask your friends to share it and spread the word. You never know if someone might need your services.
2. Create a gallery video
You cannot only upload images of your experience and services into your gallery but also videos. A quick search on Fiverr shows, that most of the first search results are gigs with videos. You don’t even need to show your face or speak on the video. A slideshow with some of your previous work or what your gig includes also does the trick and can help you to show up high in the search results.
3. Be specific in your offer
The mistake I did in the beginning. Although I only wanted to offer content writing for blog posts, I received tons of messages and orders for all types of other content, like academic writing and copywriting. I simply wasn’t clear enough in my gig. So make sure you specifically say what your gig is about to avoid the hassle of declining orders.
4. Play around with images
I believe that the cover image of your gig plays a huge role in whether potential buyers click on your gig to check it out or not. If after a while you don’t get any orders, change up the image. You could also use different types of images on different gigs to find out which works best.
5. Be quick
Use the Fiverr app to be able to respond to messages quickly. Fiverr is a very fast-paced platform. If a buyer wants to place an order, he or she doesn’t want to wait days to get a reply. Many other freelancers answer immediately. So make sure you can reply fast (preferably in less than one hour).
6. Start low
As mentioned earlier, your first gigs are not about the money but about the reviews. Don’t price our gigs high if you don’t have any good reviews, yet. Start with low prices to attract more buyers and slowly increase your rates as your experience grows.
7. Get hearted
After I published my first gig, I went to my Fiverr buyer profile (again: I’ve been using Fiverr for years as a buyer) and added the gig to my list of preferred gigs by clicking on the heart in the top right corner. I think that also gave the gig a little push because it showed that an active buyer likes it.
I’m not saying you should create a fake buyer profile to do this. This could even end up hurting your profile. But if you know someone who is an active buyer in your niche, it could be worth asking that person for a favor and giving this tip a try.
8. Earn badges
As mentioned earlier, Fiverr gives you the opportunity to enroll in various online courses to improve your skills. Once you’ve completed a course, you earn a badge that is shown on your profile. This could be a real boost to your gigs. The only downside: You have to pay to take the courses.
9. Ask questions
Before starting to work on the gig, make sure you understood the requirements 100%. If you deliver the order and your buyer expected something else, you put your good review at risk. So double-check beforehand if you are on the same page.
10. Be grateful
Upon delivering your service, thank the buyer for the job opportunity. If the project was particularly interesting, mention it and wish him or her good luck with it. Tell them you look forward to working with them again in the future. Be a nice and attentive seller. That improves your chances of a good review and of getting hired again.
11. Ask for reviews
Once an order is approved, the buyer gets a message from Fiverr to rate the experience with you. However, not all buyers do so. Either they forget or they don’t realize the importance. So if you know that your buyer was happy with your service but didn’t leave a review, kindly explain how much you’d appreciate the feedback and how much it helps you to get more jobs.
12. Upsell
When you create a gig and set a pricing structure, you can also create certain upsells. For instance, at an extra cost, you deliver the work in less time or you offer more revisions. See if you can create a few of those upsells for your gigs. They can definitely grow your income a lot.
Fiverr Pros and Cons
Let’s look at the most significant Fiverr pros and cons at glance:
Fiverr Pros
- Flexibility: You decide when you want to work, where you want to work, and how much you want to work.
- Beginner-friendly: You don’t need a degree or years of experience. As long as you are talented or have a passion for the niche you want to work in, you can find many entry-level remote jobs
- Easy payments: You don’t need to write invoices or chase after your money. Fiverr collects the money beforehand from the buyer and makes sure you get paid if your job is completed successfully.
Fiverr Cons
- High competition: there are thousands of freelancers on Fiverr competing for jobs. That’s why you have to start with low prices to get a foot in the door.
- Commission: While you can set up a profile for free, once you have completed an order, Fiverr takes a 20% commission from your earnings.
Fiverr Review: Start Making Money On Fiverr Today
As you can see, my Fiverr experience went extremely well. Yes, it can be tricky to get your first couple of clients and start selling on Fiverr. But once you have your first good reviews, you can easily make a part-time or full-time income on Fiverr.
If possible, go for one of the profitable Fiverr job categories, set up a professional profile, create a convincing gig, and start making money on Fiverr. Also, make sure to implement the mentioned tips on how to get more sales on Fiverr. They can make a huge difference.
Since creating a profile is absolutely free, you don’t have anything to lose. So what are you waiting for? Click on this link and start selling on Fiverr today!
Fiverr FAQs
Do you still have any unanswered questions? No worries, here are the most popular ones:
How Much Does Fiverr Cost?
Creating a profile and gigs on Fiverr is absolutely free. Only once you have completed an order, Fiverr keeps 20% of the purchase amount. For instance, if a buyer buys your gig for $50, the Fiverr commission is $10 and you get paid $40.
How to Make Money on Fiverr Without Skills?
There are plenty of Fiverr job categories that don’t necessarily require you to have a degree, much experience, or any specific skills. There are also many jobs that you can learn quickly by practicing for a few weeks. Browse through the category menu and check out what you could like. A few examples would be virtual assistance, customer service, or data entry.
Is Fiverr Worth it?
In my opinion, Fiverr is absolutely worth it. I’ve only tested the platform for a few weeks but the number of messages and orders I got was almost overwhelming. Once you have your foot in the door and your first good reviews, you can scale your freelancing business and make a full-time income.
How Quick Can You Make Money on Fiverr?
Judging from my very own experience, you can make money on the first day of being on Fiverr. I created my profile in the evening and had my first order the next day. Maybe I was particularly lucky. But I did exactly what I’ve advised you in this blog post. So if you follow these tips, you should be off to a good start.
How Do You Get Paid on Fiverr?
Getting paid on Fiverr is very simple. Go to your settings and click “Payment Methods”. Here you can pick the method you prefer. Currently, you have three options: Getting paid via PayPal, Bank Transfer, or Fiverr Revenue Card.
As soon as your buyer has approved the delivery, your earnings are transferred to your Fiverr account. From there you simply have to click “Withdraw” and your money is sent to you via your preferred payment method.
Can You Make a Full-Time Income from Fiverr?
Yes, you can absolutely make a full-time income from Fiverr. As soon as you have enough good reviews, you get more orders and can increase your rates.
Can Beginners Use Fiverr?
Absolutely. There are many beginner-friendly jobs on Fiverr that don’t require years of experience. A few popular examples are customer service, data entry, and virtual assistance.
Should I Buy Fiverr Reviews?
No. You should never buy Fiverr reviews. As with any platform, if you mess with it, try to cheat on the algorithm, or do anything that’s against the guidelines, it will eventually backfire. Buying fake Fiverr reviews can result in your account getting deleted, which also means you lose all of your reviews. Play fair. It’s not worth the risk.
Is Fiverr Legit or is Fiverr a Scam?
Fiverr is legit and 100% not a scam. Thousands of people all around the world use it to make money online or to outsource their tasks to freelancers. So you can be sure that this is a safe platform.
