How to Make Money on Fiverr: The Three-Step Guide

For many people, freelancers and buyers, alike, Fiverr has been a lifesaver. This platform has allowed millions of people to sell their skills to make an income and others to buy the skills they needed.

You don’t need to be super amazing at your craft to excel in Fiverr. You just have to know a few tips and tricks to stand out amongst your competitors.

how to make money on fiverr

There’s no better time to start a side hustle than right now, and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that on Fiverr. Learning how to make money on Fiverr might sound hard, but it’s really not a complicated process.

All you need is your laptop or phone, your skill and the tips I’m going to tell you in this article. Keep reading!

What Is Fiverr?

Fiverr is a global marketplace for freelancers and those who buy services from freelancers. It’s just like any other freelancing platform, except it has a significant difference.

You don’t need to bid on the client’s project or compete with it with other freelancers.

Of course, this is not to say you can’t do that, just that, unlike many other freelance platforms, you don’t need to market your skills every time you want a job.

Fiverr allows freelancers’ to post “Gigs,” detailing their services, prices, and delivery times. Once you’ve set up your gig and marketed it to the best of your ability, the rest is in your client’s hands.

They’re the ones who approach you and buy your gig if what you promise to do meets their requirements. This relieves freelancers of the stress of having to hunt for jobs.

The $5 Myth

Many freelancers continue to avoid Fiverr because of a myth that was circulated a few years ago. Then, Fiverr was known as a platform where you can get the skills you wanted for as little as $5.

For some freelancers, having to sell their talent for as low as $5 is impossible. However, Fiverr has undergone various changes.

Yes, you can still see people selling their skills at $5.

However, you can also see skills being sold at up to $1000. Much like any other platform, sellers on Fiverr price their skills as low as possible to attract customers when their experience level is low.

They reduce the cost to get as many customers as possible to get more experience and boost their ratings.

Why is this so important? Well, it’s because of how Fiverr works.

How Fiverr Works

Because of Fiverr’s friendly and appealing look and all the resources available to you, you may forget that other freelancers are your competition. Don’t make this mistake.

Fiverr works in such a way that you’ve sunk to the bottom of the food chain from the moment you set up a new gig without any reviews or ratings.

On Fiverr, only when you’ve gotten good reviews and a high completion rate will the algorithm push your gig for more exposure. The better you do, the more Fiverr will market you.

As you progress on Fiverr, you can increase your prices, and add extra “parts” to your gigs. You can offer different plans with different prices, or add gig extras with prices of their own.

In this way, clients don’t even need to talk to you before making up their mind about your gig. People can buy your gigs even when you’re sleeping.

Now that we know how Fiverr works let’s get into why you’re here today.

How to Begin Selling on Fiver

Learning how to make money on Fiverr goes hand in hand with learning how to start selling your skills.

You don’t need to be a genius to gain steady clients on Fiverr. All you need to do is follow the three steps I’ve outlined below.

1. Choosing your Gig

This is as simple as realizing your own skills. What are you good at? If you can’t think of anything on the fly, you might want to get a piece of paper and write down what you can do best, or check out my comprehensive list of easy Fiverr gigs that are in high demand.

Next, you can look at the categories and subcategories on Fiverr. You can even list them down on that paper. Try to see if one or more of your skills align with a category.

Fiverr has tens of categories and subcategories, so almost anything you decide to sell is already there. However, some skills sell more than others.

Although Fiverr is a marketplace for freelancers, you don’t have to know a skill to make money on Fiverr. But to make money on Fiverr without skills, you’ll need to have something valuable.

You can even make money by Flipping Fiverr gigs. What this means is, you can post a gig and then trade gigs with another seller.

For example, if someone wants to buy your gig for $15 with a delivery time of three days, you don’t have to do the work yourself.

You can look for a skilled seller who offers the same service at $5 or even $10 and commission them with a delivery time of one day. Then, “outsource your work” to the seller.

Easy, right?

Of course, you can decide that you want to offer something completely new and unique. However, the fact that someone hasn’t already thought of it and started to sell it may be a red flag.

It may be an indication that that market doesn’t do well on Fiverr or that there isn’t enough demand for the product.

Whatever gig you choose, make sure you do your research. Especially if you’ve decided to offer a skill you’ve just learned.

Make sure you’re clear on what’s involved in the process, so you don’t get caught up when a client requests your services.

2. Creating your Fiverr gig

The beautiful thing about Fiverr is that, if you set up your gig precisely, you can drastically reduce the communication needed between you and your customers.

Your client will only need to view your services and decide if it’s right for them based on what they require at the time.

Creating a unique and comprehensive gig can help you get your first sale on Fiverr fast.

To achieve this, you’ll need to state everything about your service. I mean down to the last detail. Here are the points you’ll need to focus on.

Description

When creating your gig on Fiverr, you’ll need to explain your services to your potential client. This is a no-brainer, of course.

But the part that some people tend to forget is that you need to do this in such a way that anyone can understand.

Depending on the category chosen, there might be some lingo that most people familiar with that work will understand.

However, it’s not for you to assume whether or not your potential client will understand those terms. Use simpler synonyms and easy to comprehend verbs to get your point across.

Learn more about how to write a Fiverr gig description.

Title

The same goes for the title of your gig. Most Fiverr gig titles are promises the seller makes to the buyer. They usually start with “I will…”

For this, keep it as precise and straightforward as possible. Don’t use any unnecessary extra words and just state what you’ll do for the buyer.

You can check out some more experienced sellers in your niche and see how they’ve titled their gigs and described their services.

Keywords

Next, you have to take note of the keywords. You need to use the right keywords in your description to make your gig stand out. Look at the common words used by sellers in your niche.

Then try to incorporate these words into your description. You can even add them to your username.

Tags

Use specific tags for your gig. You can also add them to the title and description. This will also help your gigs rank higher. Not sure of what tags to use? Use other people’s gigs to get an idea.

Packages

Fiverr allows you to create different plans. Not all of your customers will want the same service. They may vary in length, depth, time, or customization. You can add packages that specify the extent of your services and your prices.

Value

Of course, an increase in prices will have to have a corresponding increase in value. Think of ways you can add more value to your customer.

Once you’ve done that, you can now slap a price you feel is worth it. No ideas? Look at other sellers in your category, what did they do to add value to their work?

FAQs

You can also add a Knowledge Base or a FAQ for your gig. Though this is usually something that is done by more experienced sellers, you can just use theirs to inspire yours.

If you’re offering the same services, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to answer similar questions as well. Doing this can clarify common questions for clients without you having to answer them directly.

3. Marketing your gigs

 As we said before, even if you put a new gig up on Fiverr, it doesn’t mean you’ll be getting a lot of exposure. Fiverr’s algorithm tends to “push” sellers who have good reviews, high ratings, and excellent completion rates.

The better you do, the more Fiverr publicizes your gigs.

However, this is why other gigs with worse stats are given less and less exposure. And with less exposure, there are fewer customers and fewer earnings.

For new users, you can beat this suppression by getting just a little wily.

Of course, you can wait for a Samaritan customer to notice and give you a try, but take note that this will take a while, and you’ll have to use low prices as an enticement.

Or you can try the following trick to fool the algorithm and start making money on Fiverr.

To do this, you’ll only need to take two steps:

  • Create a fake Fiverr account using another email or ask two of your friends to create an account each.
  • Buy your gig two times or have your friends purchase your gig. You can lower your price to $5, so you or your friends spend as little as possible. The only money you’ll lose in this exchange is the $2 Fiverr takes as their commission.

If you want to do more, you can create fake visitors/hits to your Fiverr page. If you don’t want to do this or don’t know how to, you can hire someone to do it on Fiverr.

Creating false impressions will boost your gig and make it more visible to buyers.

These few things can elevate your gig from the bottom of the pile to somewhere in the middle. These actions will only take a few hours or a little bit of money. In my opinion, it’s worth it if you want to jumpstart your progress on Fiverr.

Now that I’ve shared how to start selling on Fiverr, I wish to tell you that NONE of this means that you’ll begin making thousands. Learning how to make money on Fiverr and how to start selling are two different topics.

Selling means you’ll start earning some cash, but to really make money on Fiverr, you need to be equipped differently. So, how do you make money on Fiverr?

Keep reading to find out.

How to Make Money on Fiverr

To make money on Fiverr, you need to have a clear understanding of the components that make Fiverr “push” your gig. The exact details of the Fiverr search algorithm are a trade secret.

However, there are some fundamental factors one can infer from the way Fiverr ranks its search results. So here are a few factors supposedly used to decide gig ranking.

  1. Seller level (We’ll explain more in this below)
  2. Strategic use of keywords in your gig’s title and description.
  3. The average of your metrics.
  4. The total number of orders completed.
  5. Rating of reviews.
  6. Your average rating. That is your accumulated rating that is viewed beside your username.

These six factors seem to weigh heavily on your ability to move up the ladder on Fiverr. And by a move up the ladder, I mean, upgrade your seller status.

Your seller status is important because the higher your level is, the more you can justifiably increase your prices. Wealthier customers are also more likely to go for higher-level sellers to ensure a better quality of work.

This means that you can get bigger jobs and make more money as you attain higher seller levels.

There are four seller levels.

1. Fiverr Seller

This is the level that you’re at when you first register with Fiverr. Your goal here should be to buff up your profile and give enough value to make it to the next seller level.

You must create a reputation for giving your customers quality work.

While it is possible to increase your rating later and bury bad reviews underneath the better ones, it’ll take much more effort. The best way to make money on Fiverr is to start creating value early.

2. Level One Seller

The next stage is the level one seller. The requirements of a level one sellers are:

  • You must have been active on Fiverr for at least 60 days.
  • You must have earned at least $400.
  • You must have completed at least ten separate orders.

Why should you strive to attain another level? Because with a higher level comes higher visibility. And with higher visibility comes more clients and more money.

As a level one seller, you also get to put up more gigs and customize them more.

3. Level Two Sellers

The criteria for becoming a level two seller are even stricter. You need to:

  • Have made at least $2000.
  • Have been active for at least 120 days.
  • And, have completed at least 50 orders.

Given enough time and the right strategy, you can become a level two seller automatically. However, this is the last level that’s automatic. You cannot scale through to the next level on your own.

As a level two seller, you get even more gig customization options, and you’re top of the search rankings. You can get more publicity if Fiverr chooses to feature you in an article on one of their platforms.

There’s also increased access to Fiverr Customer Support.

4. Top-Rated Seller

This is the highest level of seller you can attain without a lot of trouble. To become a Top Rated Seller, you’ll need to:

  • Have completed 100 orders.
  • Have made at least $20,000.
  • Have been active for at least 180 days.

Many sellers have been able to fulfill these conditions. If these were the only requirements, it wouldn’t be only the top 1% at this level.

Each seller that applies for the level of Top Rated Seller is scrutinized manually. Everything is taken into account, including all of your metrics and your past performance with clients.

Top Rated Sellers don’t need to wait two weeks for their earnings to be processed. Their payments are put as a priority and usually only take about seven days to arrive.

This is the stage where you can truly begin to earn big with Fiverr. This doesn’t mean you can’t earn well at lower levels though.

5. Fiverr Pro:

Fiverr claims that only the elite 1% of their freelancers can reach this level. This is the top of the top and the elite of the elite. I mean, there’s a whole other website solely for Fiverr Pros. They are in a class of their own.

 Being a Fiverr Pro does what a Top Rated Seller does, except on a larger scale. It allows you to justifiably raise your prices according to your status.

This also means that you’ll get work from more prominent people, which means more money.

To become a Fiverr Pro, you’ll be personally vetted by the Fiverr team. They’ll look at every detail of your profile, performance, and even accounts on other platforms.

Upgrading your level on Fiverr isn’t an easy process. You’ll have to become a little more knowledgeable about what’s important when selling.

Here are a few tips to help out:

1. Quality

I’ve said this before, but it’s still worth noting. You need to provide quality to make money on any online platform, not just with Fiverr.

People need to see the value you give them. This is what will turn them into repeat customers.

 2. Complete services

Making sure the services you offer are as clear as possible and are well thought out are some of your responsibilities as a seller.

By anticipating the customer’s questions and answering them within your gig or profile, you can make yourself seem knowledgeable and dependable.

 3. Under-promise and over-deliver

It’s better to understate your skills rather than overstate them. That way, you can surprise your customer with the quality of your work. It might gain you a loyal customer.

 4. Consistency

Taking a long hiatus from Fiverr can result in your score dropping. If you need to take a long break, it’s best to delete your gig altogether to avoid customers canceling orders when you don’t answer.

Otherwise, you’ll need to continually check your Fiverr account for new jobs. You can normalize checking it at the same time each day.

 5. The customer is always right

You’ll have to deal with difficult people eventually. All freelancers have to at some point. However, you have to handle them politely. Otherwise, they can really mess up your rating.

Is Fiverr a Good Way to Make Money?

When you consider everything, we have to agree that you can earn a good amount of money with this platform.

While learning how to earn money with Fiverr can take some time, it won’t be that long till you’re reeling enough money to pay some bills.

Some people make a living with their careers on Fiverr. You can even join their affiliate program and earn money with Fiverr outside of the platform.

Conclusion

Running a gig on Fiverr is a business.  And just like any other business, it’ll take time, patience, and perseverance to grow.

If you really want to make money using Fiverr, you have to manage your expectations and continue to do your best for your clients.

Aim to gain more customers and build the customer-seller relationship with the ones you already have.