Market Your Freelance Business
Start a Freelance Business A-Z
1. Start a Freelance Business A-Z
Estimated time: 12:26 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)2. Identify Your Niche and Target Audience
Estimated time: 12:03 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)3. Get a Handle on Your Finances
Estimated time: 12:25 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)4. Set Up Operations and Administration
Estimated time: 16:39 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed)5. Develop Your Freelance Brand
Estimated time: 15:05 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)6. Market Your Freelance Business
Estimated time: 12:44 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)7. Find and Convert Clients
Estimated time: 17:16 minutes
(Completed) (Completed) (Completed) (Completed)8. Maintain Client Relationships
Estimated time: 11:40 minutes
Module 5 - Market Your Freelance Business
Potential clients want to know who they are hiring before they make their final decision. Generally, as a freelance business, people won't randomly find you online and progress through your sales funnel (it does happen – but not frequently when you are first starting out). Instead, you will pitch them and then they will research you online. Your website and social media presence are critical to establishing a relationship with your target audience and communicating how you are uniquely qualified to solve their problem.
⦁ Lesson 1: Develop Your Website
⦁ Lesson 2: Create a High Impact Portfolio (or Testimonial Page)
⦁ Lesson 3: Build Your Social Media Presence
Lesson 1: Develop Your Website
Creating a website is an involved process and is beyond the scope of this course. That said, a professional-looking website is a critical part of a successful freelance business. Go through this step-by-step process to understand essential components of a freelancer's website, what you need to do, and what kind of help you may need to enlist.
The Three Main Steps to Launching Your Website
⦁ Get website hosting and buy your domain
⦁ Choose a website builder
⦁ Create your pages and content
Web Hosting and Domain
To launch a website, the first thing you need to do is find a webhost. Some popular webhosting sites include Bluehost, A2 Hosting, and WP Engine. You then need to register your domain. Refer to the URL you choose in the previous module.
Choose Your Website Builder
The website builder that seems to work best for freelancers and small businesses is WordPress because it is user-friendly and easy to update. Professional web developers and designers often build their websites using WordPress, customizing with unique code, so this platform can grow with your needs. Whether you create your website or enlist the help of a professional, make sure that you refer back to your Brand Blueprint to guide you through choosing a theme and design.
Create Your Pages and Content
A freelance website doesn't have to be complicated, but there are some essential elements:
⦁ Home – Summarize how you are uniquely qualified to solve your target audience's problems. Include strong header, call to action, and 'hero image'.
⦁ About – This page needs to tell your story and why you are uniquely qualified to provide this service. Caution: your 'About' page needs to be client-focused, clearly communicating what you can do for them.
⦁ Services – Provide more details about the services you offer.
⦁ Portfolio/Testimonials – Depending on the type of service you provide; this section will showcase your best work and/or testimonials.
⦁ Contact – Make sure you include multiple ways clients can get in touch with you.
⦁ Blog – For some industries this is optional – but if your specialty involves marketing or communications, a blog is a good idea.
Tips for a High Impact Home Page
⦁ Create a 'hero image' on your home page: This can be a professional video (if your budget allows), 3-4 rotating images/photos, or one strong photo (all with short 3-4-word captions embedded). This allows you to communicate the most important information in one space.
⦁ Headline and call to action: Below your hero image, include a headline and call to action so your prospects know what to do next.
⦁ Use a 'preview style' home page: Create a scrolling home page that offers a brief 2-3 sentence preview of every page on your site. This way, potential clients can easily find relevant information. If you leave it to your navigation bar to do all the work, potential clients may navigate away.
Key Takeaways:
⦁ A professional-looking website is a critical part of a successful freelance business. Refer back to your Brand Blueprint to guide you through the design.
⦁ Choose a website host and builder that will grow with your business.
⦁ On your home page, summarize how you are uniquely qualified to solve your target audience's problems. Include strong header, call to action, and 'hero image'. Keep all your pages client-focused – even the About page.
Action Steps:
⦁ Research potential webhosts and web builders. In your Action Guide, list your final candidates based on features and price. Choose and purchase.
⦁ Map out your basic website outline in your Action Guide.
⦁ If you are enlisting professional help, make a short list of website designers in your Action Guide. Contact them, get a price quote, and make your final decision.
Lesson 2: Create a High Impact Portfolio (or Testimonial Page)
As a freelancer who provides a specific service, it is essential to demonstrate to your potential clients what you can do. Depending on your industry, you will need different tools to do this.
Creative and Communications Professions
For fields like writing, video or podcast production, or design, is essential to set up a portfolio.
⦁ Show samples of what you have created. Present it professionally, with visual previews, using your best samples and 'sound bites'
⦁ Don't make people wade through your material or simply provide links to other websites
⦁ Categorize your offerings based on how clients will search for information (if you can tag projects – do it)
⦁ Include testimonials from satisfied clients (or previous employers, volunteer jobs).
If your portfolio is still in development, as a temporary measure, create blog posts to showcase projects you have worked on. (This is how critical a portfolio is!). Add tags to each post so that you can send potential clients a customized link to the results page with all the posts relevant to the job you are quoting on.
Practical, Technical, and Helping Professions
If you are an accountant, coach, or developer, it is more difficult to display your work. Explanations work better. It isn't appropriate to display code, spreadsheets, a recording of a successful coaching session, or the total tax savings you achieved for one of your more challenging clients. For these industries, let your clients, education, and experience speak for you.
⦁ Testimonials. Post testimonials from clients (or friends if you are just starting out) who have benefited from your services
⦁ Education. Post your education and extra certifications that demonstrate your expertise and commitment to constant improvement
⦁ Experience. Tell the story of your unique experience. For example, if you are a concert musician who earned your MBA and now completes tax returns for fellow musicians, tell that story.
For all fields, it is important to showcase your most recent work, case studies, or testimonials first.
Key Takeaway:
⦁ It is essential to demonstrate to potential clients what you can do. Depending on your industry, you can use a portfolio, experience/education page, testimonials, or all of the above.
Action Steps:
⦁ Review work samples for your portfolio/testimonial page. Choose the best based on your niche and the needs of your target audience. Write down the 'winners' in your Action Guide. Then work step by step, creating 1-2-line summaries of each project and choosing supporting visuals with the most impact (for example, a screenshot of a website home page that you designed). If this section doesn't apply to your type of freelance business, move on to the next step: Testimonials.
⦁ Write down a list of satisfied clients, colleagues, or former employers that you can contact to ask for a testimonial. If they are too busy to write something, offer to write them a sample testimonial, and ask them to review, edit, and approve. (Don't be embarrassed to do this – busy people appreciate it)
Lesson 3: Build Your Social Media Presence
It takes time to build up a social media presence and following on social media, so get started right away with building your profiles and publishing content. Your potential clients will be looking for you on social media, so you need to be there and look just as professional as on your website.
Curate Professional Social Media Feeds
Make sure you are on social media sites that are relevant to your audience. Curating your feed means that you tell a specific story that will guide potential clients to choosing you. This doesn't mean that you are artificial or overly polished. Be authentic. Let people get to know you and your brand.
Include Your Services in Your Social Media Handle
This will prove to be helpful when you are commenting on groups or other people's accounts. If you just use your name, people won't understand your area of expertise or even consider checking you out. But if your name is John Doe Coach, some people will want to research you further and visit your website.
Add Your Tagline
Add the 'Unique Value Proposition' tagline to your social media profile bio and description. Depending on the social media network, you may have to edit down to the most essential information due to word count restraints.
Stay Relevant to Your Brand
If you are providing serious, professional services, memes are not a good idea. Make sure you don't have controversial posts if they will alienate your audience.
Provide Valuable, Relevant Information
Don't use your social media feed to spam your audience and always direct them to your sales page or website. They know you are a coach, writer, designer, accountant etc. – so don't hit them over the head with it. Your content should serve to gain trust, familiarity, and establish your expertise.
Engage with Your Audience on Other Groups and Accounts
Don't just focus on your own social media accounts. Join relevant groups, comment on articles within your niche, and offer advice if asked. Again: don't hard-sell your services all the time. Your name and your content will communicate enough.
Update Regularly
When people search for you online and find outdated results, their trust in you is eroded. Even if the information is valuable, we are conditioned to think newer is better.
Key Takeaways:
⦁ Make sure you are on social media sites that are relevant to your audience and that your feed tells a story that will persuade potential clients to choose you.
⦁ Be authentic. Let people get to know you and your brand.
⦁ Update your social media accounts regularly and brand them with your logo and tagline.
Action Steps:
⦁ Brand your social media accounts. Add your logo and tagline and incorporate your brand color palette. Add a professional photo of yourself that is authentic and conveys your brand essence. Don't forget to refer to your Brand Blueprint.
⦁ In your Action Guide, list topics that your audience will find valuable and start publishing social media posts right away, making sure to update regularly. Also brainstorm relevant hashtags to add to your posts so that more people will find them and start to follow you.
⦁ Sign up for a social media management platform like ⦁ Hootsuite, which allows you to schedule posts and evaluate their performance.
⦁ Take time to browse related accounts and groups within your niche and join them. Once you get an understanding of the space and how people interact with each other, start posting relevant comments.
Potential clients want to know who they are hiring before they make their final decision. Generally, as a freelance business, people won't randomly find you online and progress through your sales funnel (it does happen – but not frequently when you are first starting out). Instead, you will pitch them and then they will research you online. Your website and social media presence are critical to establishing a relationship with your target audience and communicating how you are uniquely qualified to solve their problem.
⦁ Lesson 1: Develop Your Website
⦁ Lesson 2: Create a High Impact Portfolio (or Testimonial Page)
⦁ Lesson 3: Build Your Social Media Presence
Lesson 1: Develop Your Website
Creating a website is an involved process and is beyond the scope of this course. That said, a professional-looking website is a critical part of a successful freelance business. Go through this step-by-step process to understand essential components of a freelancer's website, what you need to do, and what kind of help you may need to enlist.
The Three Main Steps to Launching Your Website
⦁ Get website hosting and buy your domain
⦁ Choose a website builder
⦁ Create your pages and content
Web Hosting and Domain
To launch a website, the first thing you need to do is find a webhost. Some popular webhosting sites include Bluehost, A2 Hosting, and WP Engine. You then need to register your domain. Refer to the URL you choose in the previous module.
Choose Your Website Builder
The website builder that seems to work best for freelancers and small businesses is WordPress because it is user-friendly and easy to update. Professional web developers and designers often build their websites using WordPress, customizing with unique code, so this platform can grow with your needs. Whether you create your website or enlist the help of a professional, make sure that you refer back to your Brand Blueprint to guide you through choosing a theme and design.
Create Your Pages and Content
A freelance website doesn't have to be complicated, but there are some essential elements:
⦁ Home – Summarize how you are uniquely qualified to solve your target audience's problems. Include strong header, call to action, and 'hero image'.
⦁ About – This page needs to tell your story and why you are uniquely qualified to provide this service. Caution: your 'About' page needs to be client-focused, clearly communicating what you can do for them.
⦁ Services – Provide more details about the services you offer.
⦁ Portfolio/Testimonials – Depending on the type of service you provide; this section will showcase your best work and/or testimonials.
⦁ Contact – Make sure you include multiple ways clients can get in touch with you.
⦁ Blog – For some industries this is optional – but if your specialty involves marketing or communications, a blog is a good idea.
Tips for a High Impact Home Page
⦁ Create a 'hero image' on your home page: This can be a professional video (if your budget allows), 3-4 rotating images/photos, or one strong photo (all with short 3-4-word captions embedded). This allows you to communicate the most important information in one space.
⦁ Headline and call to action: Below your hero image, include a headline and call to action so your prospects know what to do next.
⦁ Use a 'preview style' home page: Create a scrolling home page that offers a brief 2-3 sentence preview of every page on your site. This way, potential clients can easily find relevant information. If you leave it to your navigation bar to do all the work, potential clients may navigate away.
Key Takeaways:
⦁ A professional-looking website is a critical part of a successful freelance business. Refer back to your Brand Blueprint to guide you through the design.
⦁ Choose a website host and builder that will grow with your business.
⦁ On your home page, summarize how you are uniquely qualified to solve your target audience's problems. Include strong header, call to action, and 'hero image'. Keep all your pages client-focused – even the About page.
Action Steps:
⦁ Research potential webhosts and web builders. In your Action Guide, list your final candidates based on features and price. Choose and purchase.
⦁ Map out your basic website outline in your Action Guide.
⦁ If you are enlisting professional help, make a short list of website designers in your Action Guide. Contact them, get a price quote, and make your final decision.
Lesson 2: Create a High Impact Portfolio (or Testimonial Page)
As a freelancer who provides a specific service, it is essential to demonstrate to your potential clients what you can do. Depending on your industry, you will need different tools to do this.
Creative and Communications Professions
For fields like writing, video or podcast production, or design, is essential to set up a portfolio.
⦁ Show samples of what you have created. Present it professionally, with visual previews, using your best samples and 'sound bites'
⦁ Don't make people wade through your material or simply provide links to other websites
⦁ Categorize your offerings based on how clients will search for information (if you can tag projects – do it)
⦁ Include testimonials from satisfied clients (or previous employers, volunteer jobs).
If your portfolio is still in development, as a temporary measure, create blog posts to showcase projects you have worked on. (This is how critical a portfolio is!). Add tags to each post so that you can send potential clients a customized link to the results page with all the posts relevant to the job you are quoting on.
Practical, Technical, and Helping Professions
If you are an accountant, coach, or developer, it is more difficult to display your work. Explanations work better. It isn't appropriate to display code, spreadsheets, a recording of a successful coaching session, or the total tax savings you achieved for one of your more challenging clients. For these industries, let your clients, education, and experience speak for you.
⦁ Testimonials. Post testimonials from clients (or friends if you are just starting out) who have benefited from your services
⦁ Education. Post your education and extra certifications that demonstrate your expertise and commitment to constant improvement
⦁ Experience. Tell the story of your unique experience. For example, if you are a concert musician who earned your MBA and now completes tax returns for fellow musicians, tell that story.
For all fields, it is important to showcase your most recent work, case studies, or testimonials first.
Key Takeaway:
⦁ It is essential to demonstrate to potential clients what you can do. Depending on your industry, you can use a portfolio, experience/education page, testimonials, or all of the above.
Action Steps:
⦁ Review work samples for your portfolio/testimonial page. Choose the best based on your niche and the needs of your target audience. Write down the 'winners' in your Action Guide. Then work step by step, creating 1-2-line summaries of each project and choosing supporting visuals with the most impact (for example, a screenshot of a website home page that you designed). If this section doesn't apply to your type of freelance business, move on to the next step: Testimonials.
⦁ Write down a list of satisfied clients, colleagues, or former employers that you can contact to ask for a testimonial. If they are too busy to write something, offer to write them a sample testimonial, and ask them to review, edit, and approve. (Don't be embarrassed to do this – busy people appreciate it)
Lesson 3: Build Your Social Media Presence
It takes time to build up a social media presence and following on social media, so get started right away with building your profiles and publishing content. Your potential clients will be looking for you on social media, so you need to be there and look just as professional as on your website.
Curate Professional Social Media Feeds
Make sure you are on social media sites that are relevant to your audience. Curating your feed means that you tell a specific story that will guide potential clients to choosing you. This doesn't mean that you are artificial or overly polished. Be authentic. Let people get to know you and your brand.
Include Your Services in Your Social Media Handle
This will prove to be helpful when you are commenting on groups or other people's accounts. If you just use your name, people won't understand your area of expertise or even consider checking you out. But if your name is John Doe Coach, some people will want to research you further and visit your website.
Add Your Tagline
Add the 'Unique Value Proposition' tagline to your social media profile bio and description. Depending on the social media network, you may have to edit down to the most essential information due to word count restraints.
Stay Relevant to Your Brand
If you are providing serious, professional services, memes are not a good idea. Make sure you don't have controversial posts if they will alienate your audience.
Provide Valuable, Relevant Information
Don't use your social media feed to spam your audience and always direct them to your sales page or website. They know you are a coach, writer, designer, accountant etc. – so don't hit them over the head with it. Your content should serve to gain trust, familiarity, and establish your expertise.
Engage with Your Audience on Other Groups and Accounts
Don't just focus on your own social media accounts. Join relevant groups, comment on articles within your niche, and offer advice if asked. Again: don't hard-sell your services all the time. Your name and your content will communicate enough.
Update Regularly
When people search for you online and find outdated results, their trust in you is eroded. Even if the information is valuable, we are conditioned to think newer is better.
Key Takeaways:
⦁ Make sure you are on social media sites that are relevant to your audience and that your feed tells a story that will persuade potential clients to choose you.
⦁ Be authentic. Let people get to know you and your brand.
⦁ Update your social media accounts regularly and brand them with your logo and tagline.
Action Steps:
⦁ Brand your social media accounts. Add your logo and tagline and incorporate your brand color palette. Add a professional photo of yourself that is authentic and conveys your brand essence. Don't forget to refer to your Brand Blueprint.
⦁ In your Action Guide, list topics that your audience will find valuable and start publishing social media posts right away, making sure to update regularly. Also brainstorm relevant hashtags to add to your posts so that more people will find them and start to follow you.
⦁ Sign up for a social media management platform like ⦁ Hootsuite, which allows you to schedule posts and evaluate their performance.
⦁ Take time to browse related accounts and groups within your niche and join them. Once you get an understanding of the space and how people interact with each other, start posting relevant comments.
