The Little Tricks That Can Help You Triple Your 5 Star Reviews

5 star reviews are very important in online work.

A good rating is one of the main determinants to how much you’ll earn.

For example, in iWriter.com, you may be paid even $24 per 500 words as an Elite Plus writer or $2.24 per 500 words as a Standard writer. Same number of words, different prices. The difference between these two is good reviews!

So, what are these little tricks that can help you triple your ratings?

1. Only do online jobs that you’re well suited for

You cannot expect a lion to eat grass, right?

In the same way, you cannot succeed in an area that you are not good at.

Therefore, it is good to be assessed by friends, family or an independent person about your work. Let them honestly tell you whether you can write, transcribe, design graphics, create great websites etc. Once you’ve been reviewed, trained and ascertained that you’re doing the right thing, go on to the next step.

I can personally train you in some of these things.

2. Join multiple freelancing sites that have that job

As kids, we learnt not to put all eggs in one basket. But do we follow this principle?

We have seen so many crazy things happen over the years with different sites. In fact, one transcription site called Rev.com is currently closing people’s accounts – even those that have high ratings.

Joining many sites will increase the probabilities that you will land one which works best for you. You will also increase your chances of 5 star reviews and your earning potential.

3. Deliver high quality work

Make sure you deliver exactly what the client wants. Or beyond his expectations. Never below.

This is achieved through understanding of the client’s instructions and following them to the letter. Where research needs to be done, make it thorough and use multiple sources for highest accuracy.

In short, when working, do your best to give your client what he will say “Wow!” to.

4. Reject what you cannot handle

When clients get poor work, they wish you never did it in the first place. You can therefore save both of you some time by simply declining to work on what you cannot deliver.

There are many reasons that may make you reject work. You may be sick, handling too much work elsewhere or just taking care of personal matters.

Be as sober as possible when making decisions and make sure you don’t take more than you can handle.

Also consider cutting down your clients every few months. Cut down those who have lots of revision requests, are difficult to deal with, pay low, are rude or offensive among many others. This will let you focus on your  best clients, increase your productivity and chances of getting more 5 star ratings.

5. Tell yourself you’re not working for money

Did you know that pure science is not about money? Pure religion is not about money? Most people who have changed the world were not doing it for money. Even some of the richest people were not working for money!

Good things are usually done to meet a need. All the above met a need and solved a problem.

You write articles so that they can inform the end users. You transcribe or caption so that people can easily understand a movie, court proceeding, seminar etc. You design websites so that end users can learn or have their problems solved through that site. Everything you do should be able to meet a need.

Yes, good work will be paid for. But if you have a mentality that you’re not just working for money, you will push yourself harder to help meet people’s needs and solve their problems. Your client’s needs will be met and you will make more money!

6. Always deliver in good time

This is simple but very important. If possible deliver way before time.

Let me tell you a story.

In January, I got a writing project where I was to write a number of medical articles. I went on a hiring spree so that I could get people to help me deliver the work in time.

Among those who I hired for the job were two who I considered the very best. I tell you these two could write so well that you would be amazed at what written words can do.

However, after writing two jobs, they started delaying work.

I had to lay them off and remain with other good writers (but not as good as those two). If I was in a site with a rating system, I would probably have given them a low rating. Not that they couldn’t write, they were the best. However, they wasted their talent by always being late!

7. Always be professional

Be very professional with how you handle your clients.

It is understandable that sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. However, they say that if there is always an emergency, then there is no emergency. You can’t have excuses every few days while others only have once in a long while.

Don’t deliver good quality today and pathetic quality tomorrow.

Communicate quickly. If a deadline is 10 hours, don’t accept the job and then say you are unable to do it in the 10th hour.

Don’t flirt with clients.

There are many other ways to be professional. Always maintain professionalism with your clients.

8. Look for clients who give good reviews

Human beings are interesting creatures. There are many wonderful souls and there are some with sadistic tendencies. The sadistic ones never give 5 star reviews no matter how good your work is.

Simply check if the client you’re interested in working for usually approves most jobs and gives good reviews to other freelancers. If he does good to others, chances are high that he will do good to you too. In sites like iWriter, the client’s approval rate is shown. Go for those with over 70% approval rate – the higher the better.

9. Ask for reviews

This is one of the best tips here and since I started implementing it, I rarely get bad reviews. In fact I don’t remember the last bad review I got.

Note that getting reviews is not the same as doing a good job. It is a mix of all the above. With this tip, even the clients I may have disappointed gave me a second chance. I also end up getting 5 star reviews.

So, always ask for reviews from your clients.

And not just for reviews, ask for 5 star reviews!

When done with any job, inbox your clients and tell them something like this:

Hi [client name]. Kindly find my work attached. If the work has issues, let me know and I’ll fix them ASAP. However if there are no issues, I’ll appreciate a five star rating. Regards, [your name]”

See! You first give the job (on time of course!) and ask if there are any problems that need fixing. This disarms the client and prevents them from quickly dismissing your work. You prove to them that you are open to revise the work.

Secondly you have asked for a 5 star review. Therefore if the client wanted to give you a four star, he may be inclined to change that to a five.

Lesson

The more 5 star reviews you get, the more you get paid. Reviews are kind of your online CV. At one glance, a client makes a decision on whether or not to hire you for their work. With more good reviews, online work platforms even end up marketing you in their home page and recommending you to clients for highest paying jobs. With higher ratings, more clients send you direct, higher paying jobs. Feel free to share your opinions on the comments section.