28).Important advice for bidding in Freelance Work Exchanges and job boards.

When you finally start bidding, one of the most important things you can do is login to your FWE or job board and keep track throughout the day on new projects posted in your category. Once you see any project that fits your capability, then do not hesitate to make a bid right then and there. The reason is that employers are often in a hurry to look for providers and you want to be near the top of that list of bidders.
If the first one who bids on a project happens to submit a reasonable bid and has the right qualifications, then they stand a great chance of being selected right away. Given this, I cannot stress the timing of your bid enough and this is an excellent way to reduce the competition from other bids. Also most FWEs allow a limited number of bids per month, so this also optimizes your use of them.
Also remember that the longer a project has been listed the less likely you are to win it. The truth is your odds of winning a project drop dramatically just after the first day it has been posted. With that in mind, only bid on projects over a day old if it happens to be really ideal for you or if there are no other brand new projects to bid on. Otherwise, only bid on same-day project postings, and keep an eye out for new ones periodically throughout the day. Be patient and they will come.
Also, don’t limit yourself to just checking one job board. Check up on other listings as well. I don’t recommend paying to use multiple FWEs (it can get costly). If you do use an FWE, then periodically check other free job boards since you never know when or where a good project that suits you perfectly will show up.