How can I become an established freelancer?

It seems like thumbing through the first few pages of Google is only getting me some really, really poor information. I would suspect due to people trying to make money with AdSense sites, eh?

I'm a developer, as my name indicated. I have quite a bit of experience with PHP and Java. As-well as a fairly broad list of other languages that I can work in. However while trying to make my way around various freelancing websites I'm running into quite a bit of trouble. I can't ever get the bid. I don't know if I'm just not selling myself right. I don't know if it's because I'm a newer freelancer nobody will give me the chance, but I just can't for the life of me get any jobs. I finally got a rating on freelancer, but that's because I did a project for free. (Literally just to get rated.) and that still didn't help. The tests freelancer sells you are complete crap too. I've taken like five of them.

Anybody have some tips and tricks for me; I don't care if you try to sell me your book or whatever, as-long as it's quality and real information.

Elance is a great place to start.

Fiverr is the best place for web developers.
You can earn over 1000$ / month

Freelancing is a Journey. You have to start small, and yes, someone has to take a chance on you as most of these freelancer websites have some kind of review system, and from a client perspective, I always read reviews about a freelancer before making a purchase decision.

Just make your sales copy a good as you can, highlight your strengths.

Perhaps build a few simple apps that work great and offer for free them on a website and highlight those in your sales copy.

Good Luck!

I will suggest you to create a profile on elance and odesk. Make your profile attractive. You can make your profile attractive by checking some top developers elnace and odesk profiles. Try to apply for the job first. When you will send your proposal, make it attractive and to the point. Most important thing is that check the profile of the people who got the jobs, then you can check that why they got the jobs. Which thing attracts client to give his job.