Today, millions of freelancers are making six-figure incomes through Fiverr. Anyone can make money on Fiverr if they have skills that can be packaged as a digital service, commonly known in the Fiverr marketplace as a “gig”.
Fiverr has become a significant marketplace in the field of freelancing since it was launched back on February 1, 2010, by Shai Wininger and Micha Kaufman.
In this article, you are going to learn the exact strategies that we applied to make $5,643.20 from just one gig.
That’s right, we were compensated with over $5,643 for just one single gig that we did for a Fiverr case study. Want to know how we did it? Just read on.
Introduction to Making Money On Fiverr
In short, Fiverr is a global online freelancing platform that allows freelancers (sellers) to monetize their skills online by selling their digital services (gigs) to those in need of such services (buyers).
Gigs offered on Fiverr start from $5, hence the name of the platform. Fiverr takes a 20% cut of a seller’s earnings, which would amount to $4 earned for each $5 gig sold.
Revealing Our Gig (How We Made $5,643 From One Gig)
When we were trying to come up with Fiverr gigs from which to make money, we found one that was not only easy but also had great earning potential according to current market trends.
It’s evident that people are more likely to purchase a product after watching an introductory or informative video about it rather than reading through a wordy review, as an audio-visual presentation can provide a more comprehensive sense of the product in question which cannot be conveyed merely through text.
When we were browsing Fiverr for what type of videos we could offer potential clients, we found that many buyers were looking for “explainer videos” to promote their products/services in a way that would generate more interest in potential customers than traditional methods, thus increasing the likelihood of making that all-important sale.
To produce these videos, we worked a maximum of only three to four hours per day, which was enough to complete up to 10 orders per day. Specifically, the gig we offered involved the creation of “whiteboard animations” using Sparkol.
Does It Have Much Potential?
Given the fact that whiteboard animations are usually sold for at least $50, three to four hours work per day could easily make $1k or $2k a month for someone selling this service on Fiverr. And, of course, there is more money to be made for those willing to dedicate more time to producing these videos.
Do check out some of the gigs in the Animation category on Fiverr to get a sense of what others are making.
If you don’t have a Fiverr account yet, you can sign up here.
The image above shows what some people are making from these whiteboard animation gigs. Amazing results, right? If we just consider the second seller, who got 772 orders with an average per gig income of $4, that’s an income of $3,088.
But not all orders earn the minimum of just $5.
Let’s Look at Some of Our Orders
Here are some examples of orders we received for our whiteboard animation gig, from which we were able to make $5,643.
$120 from a single order:
Another order of $225:
And another of $125:
And $90:
And $72:
This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it provides you with a good idea of what can be made when offering whiteboard animation services on Fiverr. As you can see from the examples above, the money-making potential on Fiverr can extend well beyond just $5 per gig.
What makes selling whiteboard animations such a great option is, not only the ease and simplicity with which they’re made, but the short time it takes to produce such videos. At the time of writing this article, we still have our whiteboard animation gig active and it is not uncommon for us to fulfill an order in 30 minutes or less. Earning $100+ for 30 minutes of simple work isn’t bad, eh?
How to Make a Whiteboard Video
Alright, now that you understand the efficient money-making potential associated with whiteboard animation gigs on Fiverr, let’s take a closer look at how easy it is to create a whiteboard video that will attract clients. Below you can view some examples of the types of whiteboard animation videos being bought and sold on Fiverr.
Another example:
By now I’m sure you can see how useful and appealing these videos are for those wanting to sell a product or service. There is tremendous potential for this type of gig, not only on Fiverr, but also on other platforms such as Upwork, People Per Hour and other freelancing platforms.
So how exactly are these whiteboard animation videos made?
What you need is Sparkol -VideoScribe.
Videoscribe is an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop animated video maker that makes it super easy to create professional whiteboard animations.
Try It Out
Here you can get training from the official Videoscribe website, which contains comprehensive training from basic to advanced levels.
The process of creating animations with Videoscribe is so simple to understand that we didn’t even need to practice. We just launched the gig by creating our first scribe with our own voiceover. Have a look at our first whiteboard animation:
So far we have analyzed the potential of selling whiteboard animations on Fiverr, downloaded VideoScribe (Sparkol), and practiced a little with it. Let’s move on.
Step 1: Create and Set Up Your Fiverr Account
There are a few things to consider when joining Fiverr and setting up your account.
Things to Avoid
- Don’t create your profile using a proxy so that you appear American or British. People sometimes do this to attract more clients, but it’s unnecessary. As long as you are providing a good enough service, it doesn’t matter where you are from.
- Don’t abuse anyone.
- Don’t be late in completing orders.
- Don’t mention your email address or provide any direct contact information; you will be permanently banned.
- Don’t create multiple accounts; one is enough for a single person.
- Don’t create gigs that you cannot fulfill.
Things You Must Do
- Use your original name or a niche-related username.
- Connect your social profiles to your Fiverr account.
- Set security questions for your account.
- Upload a simple and smiling face profile picture.
- Provide a brief introduction of who you are and what you are offering.
- Provide a storyline tag under your name on your profile page. This is a brief summary of who you are and what you’re about. See below for instructions on how to do this.
Set Up Your Profile
Open Fiverr.com and click “Join” at the top right corner of the screen. Enter your email address and choose a username.
Note: Don’t log in here using your Facebook or Google account, as this will prevent you from being able to set your desired username.
Once you’ve verified your account via the confirmation email sent to your inbox, click on “Start Selling” on the menu bar.
This will bring you to your seller dashboard from where you can manage your account. Scroll to the bottom and find the “Get Started” button.
Set your account availability here.
Next, link your social accounts.
Then, add your skills.
Upload a profile picture and write a short description of yourself.
Once you have completed all the above steps, it’s time to create your first gig as a whiteboard video creator.
Step 2: Create Your First Fiverr Gig
The next step starts with choosing your gig title, selecting the category of your gig, and selecting your gig metadata.
Here are some additional tips we want to highlight for this step.
Catchy Title
Do some research into the kinds of titles used for top-rated gigs. Here are some quick examples we came up with after analyzing top-rated gigs and sellers:
- I Will Create an Amazing WHITEBOARD Animated Video for $5
- I Will Make an Awesome WHITEBOARD Animated Video for $5
- I Will Create an Eye-catching WHITEBOARD Animated Video for $5
In our case, we used the following title:
- I Will Make an Awesome WHITEBOARD Animation for $5
Did you notice how the word “Whiteboard” is capitalized? This is what you should do with the main keyword as this is the word your prospective clients are likely to use as their search term, thus increasing the chances of your gig appearing in their search results.
Add File Format and Tags
Select the file format(s) you want to offer and add some search tags (i.e. keywords), as below.
Tags/Keywords
Including tags/keywords is essential when creating your gig as this will help get your gig ranked higher in Fiverr search results.
What you need to do is to use the most appropriate and targeted words. You can also consider the keywords suggested by Fiverr, as shown in the picture below.
In our case, we used the following tags/keywords:
- Whiteboard Animation
- Whiteboard
- Doodles
- Explainer Video
- Animation
Good choices for tags/keywords for this type of gig might include variations on words/terms like “animation”, “3d” and “doodles”.
Set Up Pricing
Check out the image below to get an idea of the packages we offered for the whiteboard animation gig and the associated pricing.
You can also choose to provide additional services:
Describe Your Gig
You can get some ideas on how to describe your gig by looking at other gig descriptions. However, you must focus on offering something unique which means that you should look to provide something extra within the initial price that isn’t included in the typical whiteboard animation gig.
For example, you can provide an HD copy of the video for free, or provide some form of higher-quality imagery; whatever you want. In our case, we offered some paid music with our videos that we bought from various sources.
Add Your Requirements
After filling out the gig description, you must add what you require from your client so that you can make a video tailored to their exact needs.
Gallery – A Must for Adding Your Own Video
If you check out top-rated Fiverr gigs, most of them have a video presentation to introduce their service. So we’d recommend that you always create and upload your own introductory video to increase exposure and visibility to potential clients.
Also, your own introductory video lets potential buyers see the quality of your work, which can assure them that you’re the right person to order from. The more confidence they have in your work, the more likely buyers will be to put in more orders.
Just remember to keep the quality of your work as high as possible to help turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer. We earned about $1,000 from just one of our buyers who is continuously submitting orders, even on weekends.
Publish Your Gig
You have finally done it; you have an excellent title, an awesome description and an affordable pricing chart to attract buyers. Let’s publish your first gig.
Congratulations! You have now created your first gig and are ready to make money on Fiverr.
Although we have walked you through the steps we took in creating our whiteboard animation gig, you must know the essential elements of creating Fiverr gigs.
How to Create Effective Gigs
This section will teach you how to tailor and optimize your service to represent it in the best way possible. So here are some essential tips for you to follow while creating your gig.
High-Quality Images or Videos
For images: Always use a high-quality image that attracts buyers to your services. Make sure the design is neat, professional looking and conveys all of the necessary information to attract that first-time buyer.
For video: As discussed above, you must create a high-quality video representing what services you are offering as part of your gig.
Remember: Your video must be annotated with the phrase “Exclusively on Fiverr”. This can be placed anywhere in the video, ideally at the end.
Use a Complete and Effective Description
According to my point of view, it matters 80%. The more comprehensive yet succinct it is, the better the chances that your description will attract more customers.
So how to create the perfect description?
- First, you have to write everything that you are offering.
- Second, describe why your service is unique and should be chosen above others.
- Third, share some of your portfolio to showcase your skills and experience.
Now divide your description into sections. For example:
- What will the customer get for $5?
- What bonuses you are offering for free.
- Why the buyer should choose you.
- Your contact details.
These are some basic principles to consider when it comes to creating an effective description that have worked well for us.
Set Up Tags
Most people overlook the importance of tags when it comes to creating their gig. Always choose the right keywords that accurately portray what you are providing.
As mentioned above, your tags should be a mixture of keywords that cover the full scope of what you’re offering.
Time Duration
You’ll need to let prospective buyers know how long it will take for you to complete a given job. Always choose the quickest time in which you can efficiently deliver your project, although this may be subject to change as you receive more orders. For example, we set the delivery time of our whiteboard animations for one day when we started, but had to increase it as we started receiving back-to-back orders.
Step 3: Rank and Bank
Now we will discuss the most important factor when it comes to growing your Fiverr profile and getting the fastest results. More than three million services are being offered right now on Fiverr, with new ones being added every day.
How will you compete and find your standing among so many sellers?
Here are some simple steps for you to follow:
Get Title Ideas From Ranked Gigs
Just search Fiverr for gigs similar to yours, note the titles of the top five-ranked gigs, and create your own title based on those top-ranked gigs.
You can also set the same title as one of your competitors.
Then, to set yourself apart, it’s up to you to create a better image or video than what your competitors have; this will make you stand out as a more attractive option to prospective clients.
There are many image files available on the internet that relate to your particular product/service. Or, you can create your own image.
Look at Competitor Tags
One of the simplest but most effective ways of boosting your gig profile is to just open the gigs of your competitors, check what keywords they are using, and then copy and use them for your gig. You can find tags at the bottom of your competitor’s gig.
Immediately Get a Few Orders
Here comes the secret formula to creating a successful gig. After creating your gig, get some eyes on it by sharing it through social media.
Whenever you have enough views (something like 100+, for example) and your gig is about 10 hours old, ask someone you know to order your gig. Not a fake order, but if they or anyone they know need whiteboard videos, then create one for them and ask them to order your gig.
If nobody you know is interested, just ask a friend to order your gig and you can deliver any video to them, so it looks all real.
You will only lose $1 for a single order when you deliberately ask someone to order, but you will get immediate rating and feedback, which are most important for getting new gigs ranked fast.
By doing this, you are not fooling anyone or the Fiverr system, but it will help your gig stand out among thousands of others.
After all, buyers are more likely to order a gig when they see positive ratings for it.
Alright! That was a brief overview of the factors involved in getting any gig ranked highly. However, for a more comprehensive guide, do check our article on how to rank Fiverr gigs for the highest earnings and you will understand the whole Fiverr ranking system.
Recap of Steps
So, you now know how to make money on Fiverr by applying the steps we used for our whiteboard animation gig. Since this gig alone made us $5,643, we thought it would serve as a great example for our readers who want to make money freelancing online.
Let’s recap the process:
- Step 1: Download Videoscribe (Sparkol) and practice using official tutorials.
- Step 2: Create your Fiverr profile and set up your first gig (see methods above).
- Step 3: Get your Fiverr gig ranked and start cashing in on your gig.
Simple, right?
Not so fast though, we have more useful information to share with you.
What Other Types of Gigs Can You Set Up
What if you aren’t interested in whiteboard animation? Or perhaps you have experience in another field such as web development, graphic design, or even search engine optimization (SEO).
The principles outlined in this article can be applied to any field, not just video creation. The important thing is that you figure out what kind of digital service is most applicable to you as a seller.
First, evaluate yourself:
What is the best thing you can do?
- Writing?
- Data entry?
- Graphical work?
There are many services you can offer on Fiverr, such as designing logos, flyers, banners, mockups, etc. You may be a developer who can offer web development services, software development, WordPress development, CSS revision, etc.
There are many services that are in demand, but you need to analyze what you can do best. When you have worked that out, simply search the trends on Fiverr to see if there is a demand for the service you want to offer.
However, there are some tried and tested gigs of ours we would like to share here…
Logo Design
If you have graphic design skills, this is among the simplest and most in-demand gigs you can offer. One of our friends made $12,000 within six months from a logo design gig. We also tried it for three days and here is the response we got (and this was on the day when we first published our gig):
We ended this gig in three days after making $150 with it.
Some more graphics-related services you can offer:
- Business cards
- Facebook cover pictures for business
- Mockups
- Flyers
- Raster to vector
- QR code generation
Check out one of our orders:
SEO Services
SEO, or search engine optimization, is also in high demand on Fiverr.
If you are an SEO expert, you can offer SEO services like link building, article submission, on-page analysis, and much more. Just head over to the SEO category on Fiverr and explore.
Some More Examples:
- On-page SEO
- Keywords research
- SEO-optimized articles (this can be provided as part of an article writing service as well)
WordPress Solutions:
We also have experience in providing WordPress solutions and fixes to clients. This has been a favorite of ours and we have made $1,714+ from one of our Fiverr gigs by just providing the small fixing solution.
We even got three regular clients who still give us work like blog setup, website creation on WordPress, etc.
Some More Examples
- WordPress and plugin installation
- Theme customization
- Speed optimization
- Securing a blog
These are some of the tested services we have offered and from which we experienced good exposure on Fiverr. We invite you to do a little research to see what other in-demand services sellers are offering.
We have prepared an in-depth guide covering the most important and best Fiverr gig ideas, so please do check it out.
Final Words
We hope you enjoyed reading about how you can make money on Fiverr quickly with just a little bit of work. Happy Earnings!
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