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.
Thank you Mr Walter for a good piece of advice that has opened up my eyes. Though I have not yet secured any freelance job, I have been impressed by your constructive encouragement a great deal.
You’re always welcome ?
Hi Walter and thanks for the tips. Have been toying with the idea of writing for a while now – your tips have surely fired me up!
Hi Alex,
That’s great. Make it happen!
Haha I can’t believe I found this here, “Do not flirt with the client”. I almost did, there was this client that just kept calling sweet names every time I delivered her work. I was confused on what to do. I have to admit, I only went to the emoji stage, nothing more, I promise. Anyway, It’s good to find such kind of advice here. Thanks Walter.
Hehehe…interesting James. You’re most welcome, though.
Hi Walter,
Thanks for these tricks on rating and I believe they are a surefire for professionalism. I am making baby steps and soon i will be running marathon,
Simon Kimani
Hi Simon. You’re very welcome. Keep going.
Hi Walter, very good tips. I recently started writing for iwriter and I am making good progress. Keep up the good work
Thanks Dickson. Much appreciated.
Hi Walter,
Thank you for the article I have learned a lot and I am inspired and motivated to go ahead and start online writing.
Thanks Mary. I am always happy to help.
Great tips there but one thing I would like to point out is that some clients are simply not concerned about “rating” you even though they appreciate and pay for the work, they don’t ???remember??? to rate you. It feels bad especially when you’ve only done your best yet the client goes “silent” on the most important matter, that is RATING your work online.
Once again, thank you.
Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth. Those are some of those clients that you do not want to keep working for.
Thank you walter for those tips.Surely you are a great man.
Most welcome Simon.
It makes good business sense to figure out who your clients are. How else would you measure up to the competitor? You stand a change to scale the ladder of success in freelance career through ratings. Ratings will also put you on the spotlight to deliver high quality content on promise. I couldn’t agree. Although writing is very personal and there is no monopoly on individual uniqueness and creativity. But that is a different story altogether.
Thanks Samson. Well said.
Walter these tips are great.Most people tend to ignore no 1 and 5.Therefore,they end up delivering low quality articles.
Thanks Eric. True. Those points are very important.
As always,Walter,your articles are a “must-read” for anyone who aspires to go the next level in freelancing.I just want to point out the following:
Tip # 1 is related to # 3 in the sense that you’ll be able to deliver quality work if you apply for jobs you’re well suited for
As for Tip # 5 I add “Deliver help and money will follow”
And finally,Tip # 7 If an emergency crops up,please inform your client in good time(immediately)
Thanks a lot Ali. Your opinions are well appreciated and well articulated.
Such insightful ideas can help freelancers avert setbacks in their online career. A professional advice…full of wisdom.
Stay blessed, Walter!
Regards.
Narinder
Thanks Narinder. I pray that many will learn and implement.
Great points. I would say being professional and delivering work that is well done is the most important of them all. If that is taken care, it will be easier for the rest to fall in place. If the person who ordered your work is not happy with your services or you don’t deliver work on time, it reduces your chances of getting a 5 star review considerably.
Joining multiple freelancing sites is something I am totally in favour of as I am the co-founder of Galilea3, a multilingual freelancing site. However, the reason why it’s good to work on different sites is that freelancing gives your the freedom to choose who you want to work for, when you want to work and even where you want to work. So in my opinion, working on one platform goes against the concept of freelancing as you are limiting yourself. One needs to always have other means of putting food on the table even if they get blocked on the most rewarding freelancing site. As you rightly said, putting all your eggs in one basket is bad idea.
Thanks a lot for the words of wisdom.
Hi Churchill. Thanks. Very well said. Good job with your site too.
Insightful. Informative, These are some of the adjectives describing your articles, Walter, thank you for your selfless blogging.
(1) Doing only the online jobs which I am suited for has always stood me in good stead. However, I fear sometimes I tend to be unavoidably picky to an extent I do lesser and lesser articles.
(2) Multiple freelancing websites: joining these sites is often complicated and hectic–I have tried. Is there a site like iWriter that focuses on vocational/writing experience during hiring rather than schooling (certificates) for an autodicactic learner like me?
(3) I am like the two good writers you had hired; one of the writers might’ve even been my doppelganger, geddit? I am very good but, alas, doesn’t respond well to deadlines.
(4) Asking for reviews: how can you inbox a client at iWriter, telling them to inform you of something needing fixing after you’ve submitted the order? FYI, you can’t contact a client (iWriter) you’ve written for for the first time immediately after sending the article until he replies.
Many long questions, I must admit. Replies, even one, will be appreciated.
Hi Wariuki. Thanks for your kind words. There are a couple of sites you can try like PayPerContent, Ezdia, Dotwriter and WriteLearnEarn. Deadlines are very important. In iWriter just take note of the client’s username when writing. After submission go to messages, create new and paste the username there. I believe I’ve answered all. Thanks and feel free to ask some more.
Thank you, Walter. I am really grateful.
Most welcome, Wairiuko.
That was a very interesting and true. I can really relate to it since am just starting out my online freelancing and really struggling to balance, family and my work. Not ready to give up cause this is something i really really love and enjoy doing.
Hi Susan. Thanks. Don’t give up at all. We all started from somewhere.
You are right Walter. Ratings are very important and since some clients forget to rate you after completing a task, it is always important to request them to do so. Thanks for the tips bro
Thanks Joshua. Very important indeed.
Good work Walter my role model.I want to be you when I grow up… he he heee.I use your blogs as a”mwakenya”and I am proud to mention that I do get good reviews, after writing 100 articles on iwriter am still on elite.
Planning on diversifying, though, so I will get in touch with you soon.
Hi Nyawira. I’m humbled. Thanks. Good job on iWriter. Diversification is very important. Contact me anytime.
Thank you sir as always for the tips. I would call then invaluable really, because most of what you share here people out there hoard and make a kill out of it.
I am particularly going to ask for 5 star review from my iwriter clients, coz it is sometimes frustrating to put your best foot forward only for the client to give you a 3 star.
Thanks Edgar. Sure, ask and you shall receive!