Having worked in marketing and communications for a number of years, writing bids has become a familiar process for me, but it’s a skill that takes some time to perfect.

Talking to Xenios Thrasyvoulou over at Peopleperhour.com set me thinking about how I approach the process and what methods I use to keep bids strong.

For anyone who feels that they are being overlooked for projects, here are my six steps to online bidding success:

1. Read the project listing carefully

On project listing sites like Peopleperhour.com, it’s not uncommon to see questions on the message board that have already been addressed in the project listing, or in other listings posted by the same buyer. Read all of the information available to you carefully, then read it again, taking note of the deliverables, knowledge, skills and experience required.

2. Be selective

Once you’ve assessed the project, it’s time to be honest with yourself about whether you can deliver. If you’re a copywriter, for example, there’s little point bidding on a sports writing project if you have no knowledge of sports. You may well be a talented writer, but chances are you would work more slowly and require more guidance than a knowledgeable counterpart and may even fail to complete the project at all.

3. Highlight relevant skills and experience

If you’re certain you can deliver on a project, the first step to writing a winning bid is to outline why you are suitable for the role. Try to address the project requirements as directly as possible and give short examples of relevant experience. The more specific you can be about your skills, the more attractive you are likely to be to a buyer, while a cut and paste bid with no tailoring is unlikely to win favour.

4. Outline the predicted time frame

Time is money, and never more so than during a recession, so the speed with which you can complete a project could put you head and shoulders above the competition. For short-term projects, indicate the number of working days it would take you to complete the job. For long-term projects, it may be more appropriate to indicate what proportion of the job you can complete on a weekly or monthly basis.

5. Provide a cost breakdown

Buyers will generally want to know exactly what they will be getting for their money, so it’s advisable to provide a full explanation of how you arrived at the bid amount. For fixed price projects, this might mean pricing up the individual elements of the job, while for an hourly project, you should state what you expect to be able to achieve in an hour. Breaking down the deliverables in this way will also show the buyer that you understand the requirements of the project.

6. Be willing to negotiate

From time to time, the best of bids may not prove to be a perfect fit for a project, so indicating that you are willing to adjust your bid could give you the winning edge. However, aim to be flexible on deliverables rather than price, as arbitrary discounting could devalue your offering and make you look unprofessional.

If you are selective in the projects you bid for and take care to be accurate and clear in the bids you make, you should see an increase in interest from buyers, and a significant boost to your freelance career.