Importance of Communication With Buyers

Communication with buyers is the most important part of freelancing. You have to send a private message to the buyer as soon as you place a bid. Without proper communication with the buyers, chances of winning a project are almost zero.

After you place a bid, go back to the project description page and look for a small icon called PM (Private Message).

Remember: Sending PM is the key factor in wining a project

Now click on the small PM icon, and send a message to the creator of the project and tell him that you are new but you can do an excellent job and that you will do it for the lowest price that he wants to pay for that project.

ALWAYS, remember to send a PM to the creator of the project, after you place your bid.

[People who create projects at freelance sites or the people who outsource jobs at freelance sites, are called buyers]

After you send the PM, wait for the buyer's response. If you get a reply, then there is a good chance of winning that project. Freelance career of a person only starts when he or she wins his/her first project.

After getting a reply from a buyer, open the PM to see what the buyer replied and act accordingly.

Few things to Remember:

First of all: you can place bids on 15 projects/month at GAF. In contrast to the second website [SL] where you can place bids on as many projects as you want to.

At GAF, if you become a GM [gold member], you can then place bids on 160+ projects. I suggest you upgrade to gold membership as soon as you earn $12 at GAF.

Here are few advantages of gold membership.

There will be no project fees. For example: if you win a project worth $100 and you are a GM, then you will get all $100 after you complete the project.

But if you are not a GM, then you will have to pay a fee (10% of total project budget) to GAF.

What? I have to pay any FEE? You do not have to pay anything from your pocket. After you will complete a job at GAF, the buyer will pay you. You will get this money in your GAF account.

If you are not a GM, then you will see 10% money being deducted from your account. See? You did not pay any fee from your pocket. You only got little less money for the work you did. It’s like a commission that GAF takes from non gold members.

GAF take this fee only from non-gold members. GM pay just the monthly gold membership fee and they pay no other fee.

Let’s take an example where I won a project worth $100. After I complete the work, the buyer pays me. Now if I am a GM, then I will see $100 in my GAF account. On the other hand, if I am not a GM, then I will see $90.

What is the cost of upgrading to gold membership?

It costs $12 per month to become GM.

I will suggest that you first earn some cash at GAF as a non-gold member and then you use that earned money to pay $12, from your GAF account, to become GM.

Be Safe And Follow The Rules

Remember to NEVER send any contact information to buyers via PM. Contact information includes email, phone number etc. In case you will send any contact information in PM then your online freelance career will be over for sure.