How to increase response rate?

[2b3d01da]

I'm new to Upwork but I'm not new in my field. As a music producer/audio engineer, I have put out over 50+ proposals with no responses after 5+ days. I am often in the first 5 to bid on a relevant job and I even boost my bid high enough to be in the top 3 if not number 1.
Is there a format of cover letter that I'm just missing? Is it my profile? I introduce myself, tell them about my process and pricing and link relevant work including my professional studio website with samples. Are these gigs not real or something or does no one look at profiles that haven't done any gigs? (So it's impossible to get started without direct contracts). I'm just wasting money on connects at this point.

[f1785f8c]

I think most of the jobs are fake or the client is just not serious. There are jobs that clients post and never come back and look at them. Upwork should have something in play where if the job is inactive for 15 days, the job is canceled and your connects are refunded. I think that's fair and reasonable.

[aocumen]

Hi Malcolm, 

We actually do return Connects. If a client doesn’t hire anyone and closes their job post, any Connects used to submit a proposal will be returned to you. However, if they do not close the job or hire another freelancer/agency, no Connects are returned. To help make sure clients remember to close a job, we regularly reach out to those who have open jobs and encourage them to close the job if they don’t intend to hire. We have ramped up our outreach to clients who post jobs and don’t hire, and are looking into other ways to better ensure these jobs get closed so your Connects are returned in these cases.

Please also know that Connects used for a job post that was closed for a violation of the Terms of Service will be returned to you. You may check your Connects History (Reports > Connects) to see if any of your Connects were returned to you. 

[aocumen]

Hi Dylan, 

I can see you're new to Upwork. A lot of top freelancers here in the Community have shared that it took them some time to land a project on Upwork, so hang in there!

 I've pulled a few resources that may be helpful to you. Check out these articles to help you create a profile that stands out and improve your profile title and overview. For some great tips on writing proposals that win jobs, check out this article.

Don’t hesitate to visit the  Academy and sign up for upcoming events and webinars to learn more about how you can boost your success on Upwork.

I hope this helps! Good luck!