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How To Find Clients As A Freelancer?

The life of a freelancer comes with a lot of benefits, one of the most priceless being the freedom of working remotely.

Although many dream of being their own boss, freelancing life can be very challenging at times. Not having a stable income and constantly having to develop your own business on top of the actual work for your clients, can add a lot of stress.

Clients can make or break a business, and that’s why, especially as a freelancer, clients should be your number one priority, along with delivering quality work on time.

How Do You Find Clients?

As a freelancer, finding clients can be challenging, but there are several effective ways to do so:

Social Media

Social Media

Depending on the services or products you are offering, social media is one of the best channels nowadays to find clients.

People’s behavior is shifting more and more towards buying online and that’s why you should take advantage of this.

Create a page showcasing your offering and grow it as a first step with the help of your circle of friends and family, before investing in paid advertising on social media.

One of the most important factors in becoming successful on social media is knowing your target market extremely well and developing content that appeals to them.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Although LinkedIn is a social media as well, it offers additional tools to enable you to attract and convert leads.

If you do not want to create a business page on LinkedIn, although it’s advised to, because it makes you look professional, you can still attract leads with your personal profile, by networking and joining groups of interest.

Local Directories

Local directories

If there are a lot of potential clients in the area where you are located, local directories are a must.

They help in increasing awareness for local searches. Make sure if you use directories to include a lot of keywords of the products and services that you are offering.

Job Portals

Job portals

Job portals can be a great source of leads because companies already advertise their needs.

If, for example, you are a social media specialist, you can either apply directly to the job or send an email with your proposal to the company. If you decide to apply for the job, you can ask if they are open collaborating with freelancers, explaining the benefits (lower costs).

Basically, this option works for whoever provides services such as social media, graphic design, web development, copywriting, and everything that can be done remotely.

Own A Website

Own a website

A website is a must in order to develop authority in your niche and to look professional.

Also, you can use your website to attract leads and to showcase testimonials of former clients.

Testimonials have proven to be effective in influencing the purchasing decision. They have the same power as product reviews.

Referrals

Referrals

Referrals are a great way to acquire new clients, as the quality of your work has already been endorsed.

If you work as a web developer, your name can be added in the footer of the client’s website. If you are a social media manager, you can be added in the team’s members on Facebook for example.

If you work online, and especially if you also own a website, you should always make sure your clients refer you.

The above methods have proven the most effective for me, working as a Digital Marketing Manager.

Depending on your location, there might be other channels that are heavily used, that you should be present on.

The most important thing in finding new clients is knowing your target market and the channels they are using online.

If you are still an employee and looking to change your job, you can read more here about how to make sure you’ll get an offer after any interview.