I have been using Upwork for the past five years and have completed 320+ Jobs and Earned $880k with 5-Star Reviews as a Marketing and Sales expert.
I wanted to pass on to the Community some of the top secrets that I have learned along the way. These are my experiences and of course other Freelancers may have different experiences.
PROFILE: Always complete your Upwork Profile before applying for Jobs. Create a Title and Skills to apply for Jobs to match what Clients are searching for. Use one or two of the Skill keywords in the Title to emphasize what you bring to the table for the Client. Create 3 or 4 short paragraphs in the Summary. If the Summary is too long, most Clients will not read the rest of your Profile; too short then there isn't enough information for a Client to hire. Use all 15 Skills IF they apply. The Skills are used to assist a Client in locating your Profile via search. Add your Portfolio and always use a colorful image. Consider adding a Project Catalog if it applies. By the way, it goes without saying make sure that your Profile Settings are on Public not Private so others can view the Profile.
COVER LETTER: Create a flexible cover letter that is less than 100 words. Long cover letters rarely get read, but instead are ignored. Break the cover letter into four sections. Section 1 : Acknowledge the job that you are applying for such as "Looking forward to discussing your graphics design project". Section 2: Highlight your validations stamps IE skills that are brought to their project. Section 3 Explain how you will solve their problem and the final section request an Upwork Zoom call to discuss their project.
JOB SUBMISSIONS: Tips - Only apply to Jobs that you are highly qualified, don't Bid for the top 3 spots unless you are an exact match and have a high probability of getting the job, don't immediately apply for jobs, but instead wait at least a few hours so your bidding is more accurate, don't get into bidding wars because serious Clients will view most applicant's cover letters, don't apply for Jobs that have 20 - 50 applicants in less than 24 hours. If a Client gets 50 cover letters, there is only a 2% chance of being hired; bad odds.
OVER DELIVER: Always over-deliver based upon the Client's expectations. Do such outstanding work that the Client can't but help to give 5-Stars and a raving Review. Great Reviews have most Client's sold on hiring a Freelancer before even talking with them. I can't mention the number of Clients that started their interactions with me about how they couldn't wait to start working together on their project based upon my Reviews. After 320 Upwork Jobs, I have maintained 99% 5-Star Reviews and only 1% 4-Star Reviews which continues to draw in more clients.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Use your social media footprint to promote your Upwork Profile especially LinkedIn. Create a Post on LinkedIn highlighting your Upwork Profile containing a link back so prospects can review. Small businesses that I want to begin a business relationship with are better served on Upwork due to the Upwork's system and billing. I have 2.5 million very engaged LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter Followers. They are a great source to promote my profile on Upwork.
HELP OTHERS: Always uplift, encourage and love other users on Upwork. Remember everyone has to start somewhere as you did. Others helped you along the way, so assist users that have questions.
THANKS UPWORK: Thanks Upwork for being a blessing to me on this site and I hope to do so for others!
