Writing lots of bids is a process a freelancer should get used to, this process could be really frustrating and time-consuming. Getting better at writing bids starts with avoiding mistakes that might have nothing to do with your skills or your experience. Making mistakes does not mean you are not qualified for the project but it is important to minimize or avoid these mistakes because it might cost you that project you want.
Here are 5 common bidding mistakes that could be costing you projects which you are actually qualified to execute.

1. Exaggerating your skills: this is the worst mistake you could ever make. Exaggerated and fabricated skills are a great turn off for clients. If you don’t have up to 70/80% or the complete 100% skills for a particular job, under no circumstance should you pretend that you do.

2. Spelling and grammatical errors: this error might seem small and unimportant, but to some clients, it’s a major red flag. It shows that you are not good at paying attention to details.

3. Writing a generic bid: this is a big mistake when you don’t take your time to personalize your bids to match every project you are bidding for before sending them. This can become worse if you send a bid addressed to a wrong client.

4. Unnecessarily ambiguous: when telling a potential client everything you have achieved, all the experience you have previously acquired. Trying to explain everything line by line is so unnecessarily. Most clients have less than a minute to go through each bid. Go straight to the most important things that are related to the project and give a brief and clear bid.

5. Incomplete profile: Finally, before making a bid make sure you have a complete profile/portfolio. Clients prefer going for freelance who they can view his/her profile at a glance and there won’t be a need to request for past project links or past portfolio.