Finding clients as an online freelancer can be quite exhausting. In fact, working as a freelancer means your success in getting clients is mostly determined by the effort you put in growing your network.
Today, we’ll focus on how to find clients online, the best platforms for freelancers, and ultimately how to make money online.
As a digital nomad and full-time freelancer, I can assure that finding my first clients was certainly not the easiest task. However, with lots of perseverance, hard work, and more experience as I was going, I managed to earn 5 figures online every year. Without spending a SINGLE minute in an office.
Even when your business is doing well, it’s very important to keep getting new clients or retaining your old ones. Finding clients online is essential for you to remain in business, especially if your field doesn’t favor clients’ retention. For instance, if you find a client on Upwork and he wants to write his resume, chances are that he won’t need your services again.
However, as a freelancer, all clients are important, and that’s why it is important for you to focus on constantly getting new ones. Our article today will take you through the best ways to get clients as a freelancer.
7 Ways to Find Clients Online
Apply to Projects on Upwork
Upwork is one of the best freelance platforms, and you can easily find online clients if you do it the right way. Plus, it’s the most popular platform to find gigs to make money while traveling.
If you’re wondering how to use Upwork to become a successful freelancer, below are the main things you should know.
In order to attract clients fast on Upwork, the first thing is to complete your profile to 100%. In fact, this is essential because it is what clients will see about you. For instance, if you were the client, would you hire someone with no educational background and no description or a freelancer with lots of details on his profile?
Upwork is an affordable and practical way to find clients online. This is definitely one of the best platforms for freelancers.
There are several things you can do to impress your clients. Update your description with a call-to-action. Also, it is recommended to indicate that you’re available more than 30 hours per week. This will show availability to your clients and not make them think that you’re too busy to work for them.
The Freelance Forward Report by Upwork revealed that 36% of the US workers, or 59 million, are freelancers who work remotely as freelancers.
In addition, they report an annual increase in earnings of 22%. Needless to say, Upwork knows what they’re talking about and you should certainly join the platform as well.
Lastly, do your absolute best to keep your success rate as high as possible. My Job success score on Upwork is always 100%, but it tends to decrease from time to time without obvious reasons.
I once contacted them asking about my job success score on Upwork, and this was their answer.
Please be aware that your Job Success Score (JSS) goes down if any of the following occurs between updates:
1. You get bad feedback, either publicly or privately, from one or more clients.
2. Jobs you completed in the past are no longer considered because they are outside the score’s time frame.
3. Jobs where you didn’t earn money for or didn’t get feedback are included in your score, either because they ended or because it’s been several months since you were paid.
Your Job Success Score (JSS) is calculated based on your feedback from clients and indicators of client satisfaction, such as long-term relationships. This feedback is weighted by the dollar value of each of your contracts (successful weighted contract outcomes – negative weighted contract outcomes) / total weighted outcomes.
Please note that we also exclude any positive contracts where there was no money earned or contracts where the client was suspended or had a pattern of poor behavior. If you have a high percentage of outcomes with no feedback this may lower your score as well.
As you can see, there are several reasons for your success score to decrease. To help it, I usually apply to very small projects ($5 ones) just to get a great review and keep it to 100%.
So, do all you can to wow your clients. Whether it’s a small project or a bigger one, the feedback you’ll get is equally important.
To sum up, Upwork is a great platform to find clients as a freelancer, but you’ll need to work hard at the beginning to see real results then and live off of it.
Find Clients on People per Hour
People per Hour is a freelance platform used by over 900 thousand business owners and 2 million freelancers. Here, clients post Job requirements, and freelancers find jobs that fit their profiles. As a freelancer looking for clients, add examples of previous work to a portfolio.
In fact, adding lots of examples in your portfolio will certainly help clients to see your strength and trust you more. For example, if you’re a developer, you will want to upload a link to a website you created or some software that you built. On the other hand, if you don’t have much to show, a picture made on Canva with all your skills listed will definitely work as well.
Moreover, just like LinkedIn, People Per Hour gives you a chance to ask previous colleagues for a review. While this is a simple step, it is a great way to show future clients that you have real references.
Last but not least, applying early and often will definitely help on finding clients on People Per Hour. Don’t apply to projects where 100 people already applied. However, make sure to get up early, apply to the least popular projects, and be one of the first candidates to show your motivation.
To conclude, applying to projects on People Per Hour is a great way to find new clients online as a freelancer..
Turn Instagram Followers into Clients
There’s certainly no need to introduce Instagram anymore. With over 1 billion users on the platform each month and 500 million people using Stories, it’s one of the popular social media to find clients.
Instagram is a potential platform to turn your followers into customers. According to an analysis by Hootsuite, One-third of the most viewed Stories on Instagram are from businesses. Now, if we translate this to numbers, we’re talking about a potential 849.3 million users’ advertising reach. Needless to say, you can find and build working relationships with clients on Instagram as long as you stick with your strategy.
Post regular content, ideally once or more per day. Share several Stories per day and display your services. Analyze your insights and see what your audience likes the most. Engage with your audience – reply to comments, post comments on other businesses’ profiles related to your niche.
If you want to attract clients using Instagram, you need to make sure that you treat your page like a professional one. Only post high-quality content, keep your offers interesting, and respond to comments and feedback from your audience.
Study and use the right hashtags as they will give you more room to expand your reach, putting you right in front of clients searching for people like you.
Advertise Your Services on Facebook
Over the years, Facebook has become one of the best social media sites for marketing. In fact, it is one of the best advertising platforms with a great number of advertisement features. As a freelancer, Facebook is one of the best ways to find clients online.
According to the State of Digital in Q3 2019 by Hootsuite, Facebook is the world’s third-most visited website. In addition, in March 2019, Facebook stated that over 90 million small businesses use Facebook. Needless to say, Facebook is an excellent way to find clients online.
Other than spending a few dollars advertising your services, you can join Facebook groups to find clients as a freelancer. For instance:
- Answer questions related to your service (hence improving your reputation).
- Network with other freelancers and potential clients.
- Share your blog posts and portfolio to increase your reach.
You can also create a Facebook Page to:
- Reward your Customers
- Talk about Current Events and Offers
- Build Your Community
To conclude, Facebook is a powerful platform to sell professional services online. How to find clients on Facebook? You have your answer now.
Connect with clients on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the number 1 social media for work connections. It is a pool for networking with people in your field, job seekers, and recruiter. More recently, Linkedin has become one of the best platforms where freelancers can find clients. You can easily get freelance clients with Linkedin Jobs.
LinkedIn is a great way to break the ice with clients and professionals worldwide. In fact, think about it. People are much more likely to respond to a LinkedIn message rather than a phone call or a long email.
Using LinkedIn is one of the ways to find clients online. Connect with other freelancers, CEOs, and marketers and get a wider audience.
Of course, there are other methods to find clients using LinkedIn other than messaging your connections. Posting creative and motivating content and engaging in popular threads is only the beginning. Additionally, participating in LinkedIn groups is another way to show your expertise and get people to contact you.
Write a Powerful Tagline on Your LinkedIn Profile
Your tagline will show who you are, what you do, your expertise, and how you can help your future clients.
Display Your Services, Your Portfolio, and Your Experience
Completing your profile on LinkedIn is an excellent way to attract potential new clients to your profile and showing your experience. Once your profile is complete, don’t hesitate to reach out to CEOs, Digital Marketers, and Growth Leads.
Last but not least, make sure to share regular useful content related to your work. This could also help to grow your network on LinkedIn.
Build your Online Presence
Nowadays, every business needs an online presence no matter the field. Of course, this also applies when working as a freelancer. For instance, let’s say you are a digital marketer and you want to get clients for digital marketing. You need to be easily found on search engines and websites like Google, Facebook, or Instagram.
Notify your existing clients and the potential new audience about the new services you offer. In fact, advertising new services is key to reach out to previous and new clients. If you want to take things even further, you can select a few clients to test your service for free and leave feedback, that’s definitely a great way to gain trust online.
Other than that, these are other things you can do to build and improve your online presence:
Register on Freelancing Websites
You can also register on listing websites. There are several listing websites depending on the services they provide. Other than Upwork and People Per Hours previously mentioned, make sure to check out Toptal, Guru, Freelancer, and Fiverr. All of them work in different ways yet are excellent to find new clients online.
Create a website
A personal website is your portfolio. Through your website, your clients can see you, what your business has to offer, and your work experience. You can also display your business rates as well, which is, of course, an important part of the business.
Having a personal website is a great way to find new customers, and this takes us to the following point, finding new clients blogging.
Create a Blog and Display Your Portfolio
A blog is another way to build your online presence, rank your services on Google, and be easily seen by clients. Of course, creating a blog and making it visible on Google is more time-consuming than simply posting content on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
There are endless ways to find new clients with a blog. From displaying your services to helping your online presence with SEO, you’ll definitely have opportunities on the way with time. For instance, if you’re a digital marketer, you’ll want to rank on Google for keywords like “best digital marketing agency” or “digital marketing agency in San Francisco” if you’re planning to get local clients.
Moreover, it’s important to post regular content in order to show Google that you’re taking care of it and that you want to share your expertise. Needless to say, blogs are an excellent way to find clients online but also to improve trust with your audience.
Lastly, make sure your blog answers questions that potential clients could ask. Clients can find their way to your portfolio through this, which can certainly increase your chances of getting new clients.
More Remote Work Guides
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- How To Become a Freelance Copywriter
- How To Be Successful On Fiverr and Get Jobs
- How to Become a Digital Nomad – The Complete Guide
The Bottom Line
This is how to find clients online the right way. From using social media and connecting to potential clients online to applying to projects on freelance websites, you’ll easily find clients.
Finding out how new ways to get customers fast is something you should always do if you want to stay relevant as a freelancer. Following the listed ways with sheer commitment can help you get new customers fast as well as increase client retention.
Master all of these on how to find clients and you’ll be a successful freelancer for years to come, pandemic or not.
