What are skills and keywords on an Elance Provider Profile?

Elance provider profiles allow service providers to showcase their talents.

Enter your skills and keywords that relate to your professional service offerings so that buyers/employers can find you using Elance's search feature.

1. Log in to the MyElance Main Menu.

If you are not logged in, enter your Elance username and password.

2. Click on the ‘Provider Profile’ link in the left navigation menu.

3. Click on the ‘Edit’ link next to the Skills section of your profile.

4. Skills indicate your qualifications to provide services in your category. Choose from a list of pre-defined skills by clicking on the pull down menu under the Elance Skills column. You can enter in a self-assessment of your skills.  To help differentiate your profile, you can also certify these skills through an online test. If you do not see your skill in the pull down menu, type it into the 'Custom Skill' field.

5. Scroll down and click on the 'Add another skill' button. Based on your membership plan, you can enter up to a particular number of skills.

6. Click on the 'General Information' link to get to the keyword tags section, where you can enter in keywords and short phrases related to your specialized service offerings. These may include the industry you specialize in (i.e., if you specialize in 'Websites for Real Estate') or a niche professional service such as 'Voice overs'.  Based on your membership plan, you can enter up to a particular number of keyword tags.

7. Scroll down and click on the ‘Submit’ button.

Please note: It will take up to 24 hours before new profiles and edits to existing profiles can be searched and displayed.