Get More Jobs on Upwork (and Score Invitations to Work With Great Clients)

Are you ready to get more jobs on Upwork without putting more hours into looking for work?

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty busy. For me, busy translates to a husband who is pretty consistently out of the country for work, five kids, including one with special needs and one with only one ear (and we don’t even consider that special needs in this house), a freelance writing career, teaching other moms how to get started in freelance writing, home and volunteer obligations, friends, AND a desire to read every book published on pretty much any topic.

I don’t have a lot of time to go out LOOKING for my freelance writing work. I much prefer a system where the work comes directly to me, which is one of the reasons I love Upwork so much.

When you use Upwork the right way, you can get a LOT of work that comes DIRECTLY to you, through invitations from high-paying clients who want you to work for them.

When you get invitations to jobs, you’re in a great position to control the conversation and drive it exactly where you want it to go.

So, how exactly do you get more jobs on Upwork — and how do you get invitations to work with awesome clients?

There are four basic steps you need to follow. Check out this video — or keep reading below.

Optimize Your Profile Title To Get More Jobs on Upwork

When you title your Upwork profile, remember that potential clients are using Upwork as a search engine. They have a problem, and they’re looking for a solution. They’re not looking for an Award-Winning Journalist or a Talented Graphic Designer — and those titles don’t really mean anything to potential clients anyway.

You want a title that pops with a client-focused benefit. Think about what your ideal client wants from you. In most cases, the client’s goal is to save time or make money, right? So think about how what you do helps your clients achieve those goals.

So, go for a title that will really connect with the people who need your help. Web Site Design That Drives Sales. Blog Posts That Get Social Media Shares — that’s the kind of title that speaks to what clients really need.

Focus Your Overview on What the Client Needs

Most freelancers start their overview with something like, “I’m a very talented [whatever] with a lot of experience.”

As my 8-year-old says, “Whoop-de-do-dah.”

Seriously, WHO CARES? No one. NO ONE cares that YOU think you’re talented.

I mean, I care, and I think you ARE very talented, but CLIENTS don’t care. They also don’t believe it — unless you give them a REASON to believe it.

To do that, you have to prove yourself by speaking to the client’s needs. For example, if your client needs to make more sales, use your overview to restate that pain point and let the client know that you get it. For example:

Your current web site doesn’t make enough sales. You need a more intuitive design to make it easier for your customers to buy your products.

or

Your blog hasn’t been updated in four months — and the last post you published didn’t even get a single comment. You need regular, engaging content that your users are excited to share.

When you take the time to really get into what your potential clients NEED — rather than talking all about yourself — they’ll notice. And they’ll start inviting you to apply for great gigs.

Get More Jobs on Upwork With Great Samples in Your Portfolio

You might think that if you don’t have a lot of experience in your field, you can’t get good jobs on Upwork. But that’s not true — you just have to be strategic.

Take a look at the work clients are posting in your field — at the jobs they’re currently looking for people to do. Then, create a sample or two that demonstrates your ability to do that work.

In other words, if you’re a designer and clients are looking for logos, why not show off the one you made for yourself? If you’re a writer, and clients are looking for blog posts, go ahead and write one — or part of one.

Wait, what?

Yes, part of a post. See, you’re making a SAMPLE. You don’t want to spend hours on a project that no one is paying you to do, and you definitely don’t want to write up a post that a client could just take and use without paying you.

So put in the time and effort needed to create an excerpt, or a small part of a project, and use that as a sample in your Upwork portfolio. Having a sample will make your profile stand out, and when you create samples that align with what real clients are looking for, you make it really easy for them to hire you.

Create a Pitch Template and Get More Jobs on Upwork

You don’t have the time to write a personalized pitch from scratch every time you see an interesting job on Upwork or every time a client reaches out and invites you to apply to a job.

If you had to sit down and create a whole pitch from start to finish every single time, you’d probably stop looking for work pretty quickly.

Oh. Wait. Is that what you did?

Well, here’s what you need to do: you need to put together a pitch template that you can just tweak a little bit whenever you want to send it out. Once you have a template in place, you’ll find that it’s crazy easy to apply for jobs. You won’t risk having silly typos in your pitch — because you’ll take the time to make it PERFECT — once. And then, when it is perfect, you’ll use it again and again.

Yes, you’ll make those little tweaks each time so that your pitch truly IS perfect — but the BASICS will be there: Your experience, the skills you bring to the table, the links you want to share, and so on. All of that will be ready and waiting, and you’ll only have to add a sentence or two before you send it out.

I can’t wait to hear about your success on Upwork!