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Seven Ways to Increase Clients With oDesk

April 23, 2009 3 comments

Increase clients with oDeskBack when I first signed up for oDesk I didn't know if they'd really help me gain new clients, but today I'm happy to report that thanks to oDesk I've been able to increase my clients. Not only have I gained new clients through oDesk, but I've gained friendly clients who have been great to work for. The clients that oDesk has blessed me with have been very helpful and provide great instructions, and this, my fellow writer friends, is something we all want with clients.

I'm sure you're wondering how you, too, can increase your clients, and since I enjoy helping others, I'm going to share a few tips with you. These are the things I do to increase clients with oDesk. Remember, oDesk guarantees payment on all hourly jobs!

Seven Simple Ways to Increase Clients With oDesk

1. Check writing job listings daily. If you don't want to visit the oDesk site on a daily basis, you can subscribe to be notified of new listings via e-mail, or use the search feature on your left to search for the jobs you want, and then subscribe to the RSS feeds for each search you perform.

2. Apply for jobs that only pay by the hour. This guarantees that you'll be paid for your time and work.

3. Create and save a pre-written cover letter on your hard or flash drive. Then when you run across a writing job you want to apply for, edit your pre-written cover letter to match the writing job your applying for, and then follow oDesk's steps to submit that cover letter to the potential client.

4. Use your best clips on your oDesk profile,and update every so often with more recent clips.

5. Post your resume on your oDesk profile, along with any client testimonials.

6. Follow up with potential clients who requested an interview but never got back to you.

7. Take the free oDesk skills tests, and when you score high, make the results public so potential clients can see you really do have the experience you say you have.

Disadvantages

While oDesk has been making improvements, there are still a few things I believe they could improve. For one, if you're writing in Microsoft Word or researching (reading through information), the software that tracks providers' hours doesn't always log the time as "online." Instead, it logs it as "offline," and pay for "offline" time is not guaranteed. I guess it logs it as "offline" time because it considers you idle since you're just reading and not typing. That said, if oDesk could improve this, it would be great!

Finally, there's no guaranteed payment for fixed-price jobs. Personally, I don't understand how oDesk can guarantee their providers payment on hourly jobs and not fixed-price jobs. Although I'm already grateful to oDesk, they would earn my respect more if they'd change this policy.

Rest assured that this won't be my last post about my success with oDesk, because I plan to continue sharing my oDesk experience with you. To stay up-to-date with my oDesk experience, subscribe to my full RSS feeds or opt-in to receive free updates via e-mail.

Do you use oDesk to increase clients? Feel free to share your oDesk experience in the comments area.

3 comments: to “ Seven Ways to Increase Clients With oDesk so far...

  • Carla Michelle 11:29 AM CDT
     

    Thank you for your advice. I just joined oDesk a couple of weeks ago and I have already gained 3 clients are are very friendly and easy to work with. Like you I was uncertain about joining but I figured I would give it a one month trial and I am so glad that I did! I will apply your advice that I am not already doing. Thank you!

  • Misti Sandefur, Christian author/freelance writer 4:39 PM CDT
     

    Carla,

    Glad I could help, and congratulations on the new clients! I plan to continue blogging about my oDesk experience, and when I have additional tips to offer, I'll mention those as well, so feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or via e-mail.

  • Guido Schlabitz 10:33 PM CDT
     

    Hi Misti,

    When I read documentation or do some thinking while logging hours with oDesk, I make sure to click my mouse once in a while or play around with my cursor. Even just a few keystrokes or clicks will be counted by the oDesk software and log you as busy. It won't be a full green bar, but at least it's not "idle."

    Happy fidgeting! :)