Freelancing can be a great to use your skills to earn extra money on the side or as a full-time job.
Freelancers tend to work in some creative capacity whether it includes writing, editing, graphic design, programming, social media management, or digital marketing just to name a few.
When you freelance, you work as a contractor and can set your own rates and often choose the hours you work which are two perks that appeal to most people.
However, the one obstacle freelancers run into is work drying up or not being able to get enough clients. If you can’t get hired for freelance gigs, you won’t be able to earn any money so that’s step one.
If you’ve been thinking about getting into freelancing or are currently a freelancer looking for ways to land new work, here are 8 things you can do to improve your chances of getting hired for more gigs
1) Start a Website or Blog
As a freelancer, it’s important to have a professional online home. If you’re freelancing virtually, potential clients will like to see some type of ‘proof’ of your abilities and you want your website to be the first thing that pops up when they Google your name.
Having a website or blog not only improves your credibility, but it can also serve as a portfolio where you can showcase your work. It’s also easy to set a basic website up with Bluehost for cheap even if you’re not very technical.
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2) Put a ‘Hire Me’ Page On Your Website
Once you have your professional website set up, be sure to create a ‘Hire Me’ or ‘Work With Me’ page to list your freelance services and/or rates. This is crucial because no one will know the type of work you specialize in or that you’re hiring unless you bring it to their attention.
Feel free to put samples of your work and include your experience on this page.
You can even promote your hire me page on social media, link to it in blog posts, and optimize it for SEO. For SEO, choose a keyword phrase that describes your services. That way, when someone is looking for a freelancer in your niche, your hire me page has a better chance of showing up in the search results.
My first official freelance client actually reached out to me after seeing my hire me page and since I have analytics for my blog, I can see that this page in particular gets views each day.
Even though everyone who looks at my hire me page doesn’t turn out to be a client, it helps that it’s getting organic traffic as opposed to me having to send out pitches each day.
3) Get Testimonials
Testimonials are great for leveraging new freelance client contracts. When you work with a client or even if you do some trial work, be sure to ask for a testimonial that you can put on your website or in pitches.
With real testimonials from pleased clients, prospective clients may feel more comfortable hiring you since you have someone who can vouch for your performance.
4) Raise Your Rates
This may sound weird, but you might want to consider raising your rates if you’re not able to get hired for any freelancing gigs. With freelancing, you can definitely sell yourself short and it doesn’t benefit anyone in the end.
If your rates are extremely low for your industry, it may scare some clients off and cause them to wonder why your services are so cheap. When you charge more, it often means that an exceptional service can be expected.
I work with freelancers from time to time to help run my business and from my experience, the ones who have super cheap rates hardly ever provide a good service. It’s actually gotten to the point where I question the credibility of someone who approaches me with a dirt cheap rate and I’m willing to pay more just to have the work done right because it saves me time.
If you are confident in your skills and know you can solve a problem for your clients or save them time and money with your services, don’t be afraid to charge a fair rate.
5) Make Sure You’re Pitching the Right People
As a freelancer, you must send pitches from time to time especially if you’re just starting out and don’t have any leads.
Pitching can be a pain for some, but I actually like it. I’ve learned to love pitching because I send strategic hot and cold pitches to prospects and I don’t overdo it.
For me, the quality of the pitch is a lot more important than the quantity of the pitches. To create the perfect pitch, I search for my ideal client. I identify what type of individual or business, I’d love to work with, then I look for options and do some quick research on them.
I may peek at their website or blog and interact, follow them on social media, or read their social media feeds to get more of a feel for what their needs are.
If I’m responding to a job ad, I’ll have more information but I do my own research as well regardless.
Then, I craft a pitch that’s to-the-point but showcases my skills, services, and how I can help them. I make sure I’m sending it to the right person and check for spelling and grammar before sending it off.
I also try to send a follow up a few days after sending my pitch just to bump my email back up in the other person’s inbox. Some people receive tons of pitches and/or emails regularly so it never hurts to send a follow up after a few days in case they miss your original email or forget about it.
6) Don’t Exclude Job Boards Entirely
While I personally favor sending pitches and networking, I don’t think new freelancers should avoid using job boards entirely.
The problem I have with some job boards is that they are extremely competitive which forces freelancers to offer extremely low rates just to get gigs.
When you charge next to nothing for your work, it wastes your time and energy and can put you in a rough place financially.
If you’re going to use job boards, make sure you’re choosing opportunities that will pay you a comfortable rate. Some job boards to consider trying out include: Upwork, Elance, Toptal (exclusively for software engineers and digital designers), 99 Designs, People Per Hour, FlexJobs, Freelance Writing Jobs.
7) Join Facebook Groups
Social media, more specifically, Facebook groups are becoming a great place to find freelance jobs and network with other freelancers. There are so many Facebook groups these days for all different types of interests.
If you are a freelancer and looking to join a community, I’d recommend signing up for a Facebook group that caters to freelancers in your particular niche.
Sometimes the group may allow you and others to post job leads, but other times, you can just introduce yourself, share what type of work you do, and interact with the group to build a relationship with people.
Once you meet more people and get to know them, the better chances you have of getting recommended for a job if they know someone who is hiring.
I’ve landed quite a few gigs from Facebook group postings. Don’t make the mistake of viewing other freelancers as competition. There is plenty of work for everyone and most freelancers want to refer someone credible if they can’t take on a job.
8) Learn to Love Networking
Finally, if you want to get hired for more freelance gigs, you have to get used to networking. Your network will play a huge role in your success as a freelancer.
It’s important to build positive relationships with other people because you never know who you might work with one day. Also, many freelance jobs aren’t even advertised online since some people prefer referrals so having the right people in your network can help you land more work.
A network is also great for support, advice, and brainstorming.
To grow your network, you can start by interacting with people on social media. Follow them and engage with their posts so you get to know each other. You can also comment on blog posts and attend free webinars.
Attending conferences is one of my favorite ways to network, but I don’t do it often. If you’re going to attend a conference, make sure it’s something that truly aligns with your goals and you can get a good return on your investment by attending.
You can also attend local small business meetups in your area or even speaker presentations and events to meet others who may be interested in hiring you for your services.
The key to networking is not to meet as many people as possible and clean out your business card supply. It’s taking the time to get to know other professionals, following up with them, and maintaining a positive relationship even if most of the interaction is online.
Summary
Getting and securing work as a freelancer requires a bit of prep work, but once you start doing some of these things, you’ll find that it’s easier to land more gigs. It all comes down to promoting your services across a wide variety of mediums.
If you’re a freelancer, have you ever done any of these things to get hired for more gigs?
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really interesting and helpful post thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading Giulia, glad you liked it!
“Even though everyone who looks at my hire me page doesn’t turn out to be a client, it helps that it’s getting organic traffic as opposed to me having to send out pitches each day.”
– This is crucial. It’s the #1 most important thing I’ve learned about freelancing. I’ve had *some* success with Upwork, but the sheer exposure to the internet that you get through blogging is unmatched. I’ve used Upwork for maybe two years now, and altogether I’ve received less than five clicks on my profile. I’ve gotten hired more than I’ve gotten clicks — and I was even “Top Ranked” for a little while.
If people are looking to hire you to write blog posts, it’s even more important to have your own blog. It’s one thing to say “I have WordPress experience,” and another thing to show them.
I totally agree about having your own blog and that’s so cool you’ve found so much success with Upwork.
This is really helpful, thank you. I really want to get into freelance writing – I just adore writing!
You should definitely give it a try, I love it!
I’ve found a few freelance gigs from Facebook groups. Those jobs have been better than I’ve seen on sites like Upwork.
Nice!