Are you giving up on Freelance Writing Bidding Sites?
As of late, I have been receiving a few emails a week from freelance writers who are frustrated with the work being offered on bidding sites such as GetAFreelancer, Elance, etc. Although I do not bid on nearly as many jobs as previous years, I still like to keep up with what is going on within this industry. From what I can gather, the majority of jobs being posted are of low quality and those that seem promising are being awarded to those offering the lowest rates.
If you are not finding any jobs on these sites, there is no point in spending a lot of time on them. Instead, you should rethink your marketing plan so that you can begin to increase your freelance writing workload. Believe it or not, there are other ways to find work. This is not to say that you should do away with bidding sites altogether, but you should definitely consider other options; especially since these services seem to be going down the tubes.
The main reason that many aspiring writers stick with bidding sites instead of other options is because it is the easiest thing to do. In other words, it is much easier to bid on jobs than to write a query letter or cold call local businesses. But guess what? If you want to achieve a high level of success, you need to break out of your comfort zone and begin to search for jobs in other ways. Soon enough you will realize that bidding sites are good for nothing more than finding small jobs from time to time.
The bottom line: if you are relying on bidding sites and nothing more you are probably going to find it difficult to earn a decent living as a freelance writer. You can still check these sites everyday for new jobs, but do not rely on them to make or break your career. Instead, revamp your marketing plan so that you are generating new leads in many different ways.
