If you've done any sort of online marketing at all, chances are, you've heard of Fiverr.com in some way. Whether it's a good (or bad) review or using the platform yourself. You may wonder whether the platform is legitimate, or a scam that is too cheap for quality work. Here's what you need to know:

What Is Fiverr.com?

Fiverr.com is an online platform that connects buyers of digital services, with people willing to do them. Services used to all cost $5 (hence the name), but that's now been changed to include higher priced services.

How Does It Work?

For users of the service, you simply create an account and link a payment method. Browse available services or create a special request. Choose a service provider, pay, and wait for your service to be delivered in the timeline outlined.

What Are the Benefits of Using Fiverr?

• It's quick and easy to get started.

• Most services are delivered within a day or two of purchase, so there aren't any long waits.

• You can get quality services at very low prices.

• There's a huge range of options that will solve most marketing problems.

• You can create custom requests and get "bids" from interested service providers.

What Are the Drawbacks to Using Fiverr?

As with anything, there are also a few pitfalls you should look out for on Fiverr:

• Remember that even if you get a refund for a service you weren't happy with, it won't go back into your bank account. It will go into your Fiverr wallet, which forces you to keep purchasing services on the platform.

• If a service provider cancels a service, you won't be able to give them a review. This can be frustrating!

• Remember that you often get what you pay for; exercise caution when looking for services on Fiverr.com. A good example would be the article writing services. Sure, it's cheap, but 5 bucks usually doesn't buy a quality blog article, and you might end up with something you can't use.

Conclusion

I’ve used Fiverr with a mixture of results, some good, some not so good.

Infographics

The infographics I’ve gotten have been both wonderful and horrible. You definitely need to do so due diligence to find the provider that understands your style. I gave them a link to my website to check out to see what I had posted in the past. Also, I gave them tight requirements for font, colors, layouts and images. What I learned is that I also have to specify how wide the infographic needs to be.

It took a couple of tries to find an infographic artist I was happy with and even then I’m now using Visme for my infographics. Also, the price for an infographic is a lot more than $5. Most people charge by the number of points in your image.

Fillable PDF forms and PDF formatting

This is the service that I love on Fiverr. I’ve found a brilliant provider that is a wiz with PDF forms.  CEBooker is very professional, does multiple revisions if necessary, (I’ve only ever needed 1 revision) and makes complicated PDF’s clickable and fill-in-able. Instead of buying Adobe PDF maker, I create a Word Doc, send it to CEBooker and in a day or 2 I have a beautiful, usable PDF. He’s not $5, but he’s well worth the cost.

Transcription

Again Fiverr shines here. I’ve found a couple of great providers. The cost is well over $5 but the transcripts are virtually word for word. I do read them over and correct grammar. Reading the spoken word can sometimes be confusing, so I make sure they’re understandable when read. This has to do more with the speaker and not the transcriber. AnnPhillPotts https://www.fiverr.com/annphillpotts and TransExpert https://www.fiverr.com/transexpert are my go to transcriptionists. They have both done a wonderful job for me and I switch back and forth as their workload necessitates.

A long time ago, I ordered a logo that was so hideous that I couldn’t even stand looking at it. It was $5.

I’ve ordered a couple of pencil and ink drawings that I’ve used for blog post title images that were wonderful. And they were $5. Probably someone scribbled something quickly while watching TV and it turned out perfect.

Like any service, there are pros and cons to using Fiverr.com, and you do need to be selective and cautious about what you purchase on the platform.

On the other hand, if you have limited time and a small budget, it's a treasure trove of great services, that can help you to build up a quality marketing portfolio quickly and easily.

Choose wisely, and this may well be the best 5 bucks you ever spend.

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