Four Months on Fiverr, Zero Orders — And the One Thing I Noticed [Overseas Side-Job Journal, Vol. 21]

I started Fiverr as the first step of my overseas illustration side business.

I registered this April, and four months have already passed.

The result is…

Zero orders.

Beautifully zero (lol).

“Is this the limit already?”

I thought that — but there may still be things I can improve.

So this time, I took a fresh look at my Fiverr numbers.

And I found something a little surprising.

Previous: The five overseas platform comparison roundup is here

Only the Clicks Had Somehow Increased

On Fiverr, you can see your numbers for 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days.

By subtracting the periods from each other, I split the numbers month by month.

[Table 1: Monthly figures]

3 months ago: 35 impressions, 0 clicks
2 months ago: 56 impressions, 1 click
Last month: 54 impressions, 9 clicks

Impressions went 35 → 56 → 54.

Roughly flat.

But clicks went 0 → 1 → 9.

And last month’s click rate was, incredibly, 16.7%.

…What on earth happened? (lol).

Honestly, during this period I barely touched Fiverr.

No particular changes to the gig or the profile.

And yet only the clicks had increased.

I honestly don’t know why.

But I did learn one thing.

Maybe the Problem Isn’t “Not Getting Clicked”

Last month: 54 impressions, 9 clicks.

Of course, I can’t conclude from this alone that “my click rate is excellent.”

But at least, it doesn’t seem to be a state of

“seen, but nobody’s interested.”

Probably (lol).

Rather, the problem is before that.

Only 54 impressions a month.

Less than two a day.

At that rate, there are simply too few chances for an order to come in.

So I wondered:

“What words am I actually being searched for?”

What I Finally Noticed After Four Months

I looked again at my own gig title.

I will japanese historical portrait in taisho showa retro anime style

[Image 1]

In meaning, it’s something like

“I draw Japanese historical portraits in a Taisho / Showa retro anime style.”

At the time, I had AI make it for me,

and thought, “Yeah, this is good!” (lol).

But thinking about it calmly…

Do people overseas search for “taisho” or “showa”?

Japan is the only country that uses era names like these.

Would an American search for “taisho portrait”?

Would a British person search for “showa anime”?

…Probably not (lol).

Words people don’t know don’t get searched.

And if they aren’t searched, they aren’t shown.

It took me four months to finally notice that.

My Competitors Had the Answer Written Right There

Looking at sellers in the same genre as me,

retro 80s 90s anime
vintage japanese illustration

words like these were being used.

Both are words people overseas can easily understand.

And there I was, writing

taisho showa (the era names Taisho and Showa)

on mine (lol).

No wonder nobody could find me.

Of course, the problem isn’t only the title.

My competitors have

841 reviews.

172 reviews.

And I have

zero.

If we line up at the same $25, of course the person with a track record gets chosen.

But reviews can’t be increased overnight.

Then let’s start by fixing what can be fixed right now.

So I Changed the Title

Here is the new title. Of course, I decided it after deliberating with AI.

I will draw your portrait in vintage japanese ukiyo e anime style

“I’ll draw your portrait in a vintage Japanese ukiyo-e anime style.”

Honestly, it’s the kind of title that makes me blush a little to say out loud myself (lol).

But maybe this is easier for people overseas to understand!?

I haven’t changed my style.

The price is still $25.

I haven’t changed the thumbnail either.

What I changed was

a translation — from “words I like” into “words people overseas can understand.”

That’s all.

“Taisho Roman” and “Showa Retro” are precious words for my style.

But for people who don’t know them, they never become search words.

When selling overseas,

what matters is not how I want to express it, but how the other person searches.

That was the biggest lesson this time.

I’ll Check the Results on September 30

The current numbers are these.

Impressions: 54
Clicks: 9
Orders: 0

One month after changing the title.

On September 30, I’ll check the same numbers once more.

If the impressions have increased, the change of words may have had an effect.

If they haven’t changed, the cause lies somewhere else.

Either way is fine.

This time, for the first time, I was able to form

a hypothesis about “why no orders come.”

Then: test it.

If it doesn’t change, think of the next move.

Maybe overseas side business is just this repetition.

Well then — one month from now.

If even one order has come in…

I’ll probably make a huge fuss about it (lol).

Continued: Why 1,658 FAA visitors still brought no sales, is here

Next: Why Won’t It Sell Even with ‘Visitors 1,658’ on FAA?