Internet Business Blog

I recently posted a project on ScriptLance for a handful of articles to be written on a specific topic. The project description wasn’t overly demanding, but it did state that good spelling and grammar would be required and that samples of past work would be advantageous.

It’s surprising that of the dozen bids I received, most of them were easy to discard within 5 seconds of reading them and it wasn’t because of cost. I actually wanted to award the project to one of the most expensive bidders, but changed my mind because she failed to respond to a query.

Given that all the writers had to do was to post a little blurb about themselves and provide some samples, it was quite disturbing just how poorly they performed at even that.

Most had a poor grasp of English, spelling and grammar and yet promised perfectly written content!

Here’s why I picked the writer that I did even though she had no prior feedback:

• The writer’s response was well-written, courteous, succinct, spelt correctly throughout, grammar and punctuation were spot on. Their response wasn’t the longest nor the most in-depth and not even the cheapest.
• The writer presented themselves in a professional manner. There was no ‘bigging up’, trying to make themselves appear more than what they were. That was simply overkill for this small project. I didn’t need teams of people. A single person would have sufficed.
• Likewise, the writer didn’t beg for the project, If you’ve got something great to offer then you wouldn’t be begging would you? If you are, why?
• The writer backed up their bid with plenty of samples on a third-party website, dating back over a year. If you’ve got a track record, flaunt it. I’d be suspicious if a writer couldn’t back up their claims.

Tips for bidders

Here’s a few tips that will help you win more projects as a freelancer (at least if they’re my projects):

• Read the project brief careful and consider what skills are being asked from you.
• Don’t use a generic response. Show that you’ve taken the time to read the brief and haven’t just fired off a canned responsed. Project managers will want to see that you genuinely want to work on their specific project.
• If you have an opportunity to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills then take it.
• Don’t beg for the project! The quality of your offer should be enough to convince the project manager that you’re the right one for the job.
• Deliver what you promise, when you promise it, at the price you promise. There’s little more off-putting than someone who doesn’t follow through and deliver what they’ve offered.

Technorati Tags: Freelance, Freelance Writer, ScriptLance, Winning Bid