Leaving a settled task for a freelance (or consultant) career is among the toughest decisions for anybody. On one hand you have an ensured paycheck at the end of each month together with a number of other additional benefit.
While on the other hand, you can go completely freelance and enjoy the flexibility of working on your preferred projects on your own terms. This is most likely probably why freelancers are going to comprise almost 47%of the labor force in USA by 2020.
The issue with freelancing, however, is the large number of people doing it. Clients have a practically unending list of freelancers to select from and the marketplace is dominated by low paying gigs and cheap projects, particularly on freelancing website like Upwork and Fiverr.
It’s really difficult to stick out from the crowd and make enough to earn a living. Especially if you’re a no one who’s just beginning out.
There is, however, one way to not only stand out from the crowd, enhance your brand image and be counted as a professional, however also to command much higher rates for your work and live the life that you dream of.
Which’s what I’m going to inform you about right now.
My 5 Step Technique to Stand Out from the Crowd
It does not matter if you’re a freelance web designer, developer, designer or a freelance author, if you keep hunting for tasks on freelance job portals, you’ll continue to deal with low paying gigs.
As a freelance writer, web designer and marketing specialist, I switched to a different strategy and instantly discovered rewards from it.
Here’s my 5 action method to freelancing heaven.
1. Brand name yourself smartly– Start a blog now!
As a freelancer, you’re doing yourself a significant injustice by not having your own blog or site. The number of clients you bring in and the kind of rates you command is straight proportional to the strength of your brand image.
By having your own blog site, you can give yourself a platform to not just showcase your best work but likewise to use it as the center of all your marketing and branding activities.
A blog site that is regularly upgraded with high worth content, will not only assist people discover you, but likewise elevate you above your competitors.
Jeff has an in-depth guide on how you can start a blog site from scratch and make it a raving success. I strongly suggest that you read it. I personally recommend using WordPress for your blog, however there are lots of other site platforms that you can use if you want.
Prior to starting, however, you need to be clear about the function of your blog. It exists to get clients for you. Your content should also be tailored according to your objective.
Every time you develop a brand-new post, target it towards your possible clients. A couple of posts with the right material are far more efficient than dozens of posts without any objective.
Make sure you develop a “Solutions or Employ Me” page on your blog site. You require to inform individuals that you’re available for work. Note all your services and your best samples on this page, and promote it anywhere possible.
Note: Click on this link, to learn more about creating a reliable Hire Me page.
2. Target your niche leaders for guest blogging
When you have your blog site in order, it’s time to develop your brand image. This is the most vital action in this method and, if appropriately done, will truly raise you above the crowd.
The leading blog sites in any niche are followed by countless individuals, consisting of little companies and business owners from that industry.
Including on 3 to 4 top blog sites of your niche will not just offer you huge direct exposure, however likewise help you network with the significant influencers in your niche.
At this point you may think that guest blogging is an old strategy that does not work anymore. That is not true at all.
Visitor blogging fails when you target the incorrect blogs for the wrong factors. In this method, nevertheless, your goal with guest blogging is to build your brand name image by featuring on the leading blogs of your specific niche.
And in order to do that, you’ll require to write an effective post, because poor quality work will merely get rejected. Focus on the major issues of your specific niche and try to provide your special viewpoint on them.
When I followed this technique, I targeted Problogger.com and Hongkiat.com due to the fact that I wanted independent blogging and web design clients, and these are definitely two of the most prominent blogs in their particular specific niches.
Given that I have actually been released on Problogger and a couple of other top blogs, I have actually used them as a sample to get 3-4 major blogging clients by merely emailing the clients through their websites.
Keep in mind: Click on this link to find out how to get released on the leading blogs in your niche.
The couple of hours that you invest, composing an extremely high quality post for the specific niche leaders, will pay you back huge time. So offer it your finest shot.
Don’t forget to compose a strong author bio for your guest post. Present yourself as a professional and provide a link to your blog site at the end of it.
3. Prepare to release your marketing campaign
You’ve done the effort and got included on some of the top blogs in your niche. It’s time to reap the benefits by releasing an aggressive customer acquisition project.
But wait!
Before you go on a marketing spree, ensure your online profiles show your knowledge.
Start by copying the logo designs of all the blogs you have actually included on, and displaying them in the side bar of your blog with the heading “As seen on”. List the links to your best guest posts on the Hire Me page of your blog.
This will serve as a powerful advertisement of your trustworthiness and will provide your brand image a major boost.
Go straight to your LinkedIn, Elance, oDesk and any other industry particular job profile and add your latest work to them.
As I stated previously, I’m not a huge fan of Elance and other sites like that, but with the names of all the big blogs on your profile, you can get an odd high paying client even from such portals.
4. Approach your target market and determine terms
You now have simply the right profile, samples and brand name image to confidently connect to your target audience and take jobs by yourself terms.
In this step, note down all the significant sources that can get you gotten in touch with your possible customers. These sources will include,
- The leading job portals of your specific niche (I’m not talking about Elance!)
- The sites of your potential consumers
- The leading industry forums
- Social media profiles of your target customers
Out of all these source, I’ve personally found direct emailing as the most effective technique. I would still recommend using other freelance job websites, like freelanceswitch. Whether you’re using directly on the client’s site or through a task portal, you’ll need to send an email to them. This email is essential for your possibilities.
- Start off by briefly presenting yourself (not more than 2 lines).
- Mention that you have actually been included on some of the most credible blog sites of your specific niche including (blogname– 1), (blogname -2) and so on
- . Note the links of your guest posts on all the leading blog sites as samples.
- Leave a link to your own blog at the end of the e-mail for more samples.
- Do not discuss your rates right now.
The response rate on my client inquiry emails increased almost 200% after I included links of guest posts for the top blogs. Prior to that, only a handful ever talked with me.
And here’s the funny part, on the majority of events, I did not satisfy all the requirements (eg: specific countries, rates etc.) but still got the tasks.
Among the business I approached in reaction to their task post (a web design company) doubled their marketed rates for me even if I was released on the blog sites they trusted.
That’s the power of clever visitor blogging.
You can determine terms once you have won the customer’s confidence. And that can just be done if you have big names on your profile.
5. Rinse and repeat
Yes, keep including big names to your profile and you’ll continue to dictate terms with your customers.
Never ever choose mass visitor blogging. You do not require it to obtain clients.
All you require is a concentrated method that targets just the top few blog sites in your specific niche. That is enough to construct your brand image and act as a strong sign of your service standards.
In truth, in a lot of cases, you’ll have customers calling you themselves by seeing your guest posts.
Conclusion
There’s nothing complicated about this strategy. It’s basic typical sense stuff. It does take some effort, however. If you truly want a flourishing freelancing profession in which you do not have to run after customers, spend hours working for cents and wait for the next customer to have mercy on you, then all this hard work is definitely worth it.
Author Bio: Jawad Khan is an independent author, professional blog writer and marketing specialist.
