Sunday, March 18, 2012

Is Fiverr worth it?

You may have heard of Fiverr, a site that facilitates social services. People posting gigs are willing to work for you for a price ... $5. Yes, really. All you need is a PayPal account.


Unfortunately, Fiverr is filled with money-wasting gimmicks. However, the site can be worth your time if you are trying to gain publicity for your business, provided that you know how to pick the deals from the steals. 


Here are five quick guidelines for the Fiverr initiate interested in publicity services. 


1. Don't use Fiverr services that will add Facebook friends or Twitter followers for you


The idea of paying $5 to add a thousand FB likes for your cause or add 700 Twitter followers might seem tempting, but you get what you pay for. The majority of these FB and Twitter followers are zombie accounts -- they have been created for the sole purpose of following others. They add nothing to your FB or Twitter profile except numbers and it is easy for anyone to tell that they are fake if you look at them a little closely. 


Granted, it may look good to have 10,000 FB likes, but what really counts is that people are talking about your brand, not just likes or follows. I'm of the opinion that having more followers and fewer conversations is actually worse than having a handful of followers taking part in a good dialogue. 


2. Don't use Fiverr services that promise to add backlinks


Backlinks are the backbone of good SEO. A major factor in how well your site ranks on Google is the number of links directing to it. It would thus seem that a Fiverr gig promising to add many high value links is worth it.


Think again. Adding too many backlinks too quickly can actually penalize your site. A good backlinking strategy takes time and patience. It is much better idea to find and employ an expert through oDesk or Elance. It will cost more, but it will give better results in the long run.


3. Do use movie making services


Having a movie clip produced can be well worth $5 Video testimonials get more attention than articles. If you don't know how to edit video and want a professional sounding clip, Fiverr can provide some very interesting solutions, provided you keep the following in mind. 


The first thing that needs to be clear in your mind is whether the video is going to be clearly an advertisement or a testimonial. If it is supposed to be a testimonial, you are better off not going down this route. You will be found out and it is not very ethical. 


Secondly, you need to be sure about your Fiverr employee's stage presence. Sure, it's just $5, but you don't want to throw your money away. More importantly, you want to work with someone who understands what your product is and how to pitch it, not make your product look bad.


Third, you want someone who has a good work ethic and high reviews. The most simple way of doing this is to organize gigs by video, or whatever other service you want to use, and then select the "top-rated" tab. Make sure that your Fiverr employee really does have positive feedback and not spam comments by happy customers.


4. Do use language services


If you are trying to reach a market that speaks a different language, it can be difficult, especially if you are working with a smaller or cash-strapped organization. One way around this is to employ a Fiverr service that will film a statement in a different language. You can then post and publicize the video.


Statements range from one minute to 30 seconds. Some Fiverr gigs will translate your statement into another language, others will simply state the service on film. Make sure that you are getting what you want. 


5. Do use multiple services in tandem for added value


Fiverr is most valuable when multiple services are chained together. Take the example in the last tip. You might end up paying $10 or $15 bucks, but compare that to how much you might pay otherwise. 


Most Fiverr gigs are set up to be completed in 30 minutes are less, otherwise they are a waste of time for the service provider. Keep this in mind and don't expect too much out of any one gig and you will be more likely to find that your expectations and expenses will be reasonable.

11 comments:

  1. I remember reading about companies being penalised by google because they had paid some service for increasing the backlinks to them. Turns out it was something (i think) similar, resulting in them being taken from a google page 1 result to not showing up on search results at all.
    Thanks for the post though...and keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I heard about SEOClerks at about the same time I had heard of Fiverr. I joined it (Fiverr) and put up (almost) the same gig that I put up on SEOClerks. On SEOClerks I get quite a lot of orders, without even trying to. I haven’t marketed the link ever, other then use it in my profile signatures, but I don’t think I have ever gotten an order from it. The orders come themselves.
    But on Fiverr, nothing happened, no orders, nothing. So I thought I would make the SEOClerk's gig an “Exclusive” one, for I’ve noticed they are seen to be of more value.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A common concern among Fiverr users is disabled accounts.
    check this -
    http://youtu.be/dRwlXmJabAs

    This person also got account disabled but managed to get it enabled

    ReplyDelete
  4. No doubt they are good, but I like ListingDock.com more, they getting me more orders as compare to Fiverr.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey ! you Post Such A Terrific Post And According To Fiver Checkout One Of My Best Service Regarding SEO Which I Think You Must Have To Check Because It's in Reasonable Price At Most Best Fiverr SEO Gig
    With Best Regards
    But I Lie You Post As It is Very Good For SEO Project base users

    ReplyDelete
  6. Don't use Fiverr services that promise to add backlinks. But why? I will put a link to your site from my PR 4 blog

    ReplyDelete
  7. This was really an interesting topic and I kinda agree with what you have mentioned here!
    سئو

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really appreciate this wonderful post that you have provided for us. I assure this would be beneficial for most of the people. Pbn homepage

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! Such an amazing and helpful post this is. I really really love it. It's so good and so awesome. I am just amazed. I hope that you continue to do your work like this in the future also backlinks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Im no expert, but I believe you just made an excellent point. You certainly fully understand what youre speaking about, and I can truly get behind that. high quality

    ReplyDelete