How We are Looking for Proposals on UpWork

1. What technologies stack is it better to select when searching for an order at UpWork?
At the present time our team specializes in JavaScript development. That is why our orders must comply with our specialization. The majority of our team members know several programming languages. Is it necessary to take it into account? The answer is no. Any order taken for one specific developer can be transferred to any other free developer. It is necessary in case of high loads due to projects, vacations, etc. All members of our team must have an opportunity to replace each other in any other project.

2. What key words is it necessary to choose when searching?
The most popular words are Angular, React, MEAN stack, Node.js, Express, Meteor, D3.js
In our turn we must also focus on the market needs and try to keep up with the times. Nowadays the mobile development on the basis of such frameworks as Apache Cordova, PhoneGap, Ionic Framework, React Native is popular. It enables to develop mobile applications by using JavaScript. However, the mobile development is more difficult and requires more time. Besides, unlike the native development, such applications are more apt to bugs and lags.

3. What is it necessary to pay attention to when searching for a suitable order at UpWork?

The customer’s country. We are interested in the developed English-speaking countries: the USA, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, etc.
Name. Customers from India and Pakistan know that freelancers prefer countries from the above list. That is why they intentionally specify them in profiles. It is necessary to be attentive. If this is Anand Bhatt from the USA, most probably that this is simply a customer from India.
Price. At UpWork there are a lot of customers who focus on the lowest price of the labor force. That is why it is better not to regard offers for $100, $200 or low hourly rate. You will spend more time for correspondence and clarifying technical requirements. Besides, such customers often write negative comments.
Scope of work. If the work requires only several fixes for 2-3 hours, it is not recommended to take such orders. The reasons are the same as in the previous clause. We are interested in long-term orders for a full working day. It is best of all when the customer looks for a developer in the team.
Orders history and testimonials. It is necessary to pay attention to this, too.
The customer may not have orders history. In this case it is necessary to pay more attention to the description and price.
It’s a good sigh if the customer has already paid for a large scope of works at our hourly rate.
The above example has an interesting description of the order for us. It is remarkable that the customer has already posted 70 vacancies and hired only two of them, and spent only $30. We can suspect that this customer merely looks for free labor force.

The above example shows that the customer is ready to pay and not to save on the project budget.

4. How to make a reply for the customer’s request to attract his attention?
Interesting offers get a lot of responses. The majority of them are similar. That is why it is important to let the customer understand that we have read his offer.

It is necessary to address the customer using his name if it is available.
The customer sometimes writes himself what key phrase to use for him to understand who has really read his offer.
Ask questions, quote key moments from the customer’s letter and give detailed answers.
Add examples from the portfolio, screen shots.
Specify contact information (Skype, e-mail, working hours, time zone).
In your letter pay attention to the requirement to the order. If the customer looks only for freelancers, it is possible to specify that our developers work with every customer on an individual basis. If there are tough requirements on the location and we do not comply with them, most probably it is not worth replying to such offer.
It is possible to specify a higher hourly rate. There is an opinion that such trick can attract a potential customer.

This is an example of a good answer: