How to Start Freelancing
About Me Page
People buy from people they trust. Include this page to make potential clients learn more about you.
Include:
your photo,
information about yourself,
and your experience
Proof of Past Work
This shows credibility and builds trust. This is proof that you can do what you say. Don’t just show a screenshot of your work. Include a link to the live website and you could describe the process of each project if you don’t have many projects done before. Ask permission from your clients to showcase their website on your portfolio
Testimonials
Adding testimonials is the best way to show social proof. A past client describing their experience working with you is a great way to convince your website visitors how great it is working with you. Contact Information This is one of the most important parts of your portfolio. Make it as easy as possible for your visitors to contact you. Include both a contact form and your email. Let your visitors decide which way is easy for them to contact you. Bonus: Include a Blog Blogging is not only a great way to position yourself as an expert but also generate traffic to your website. You could blog about topics that your clients would find useful (How they can grow their business and so on).
Option 2
- List 10 people/companies who might need a website
- Create a website for one of them without charging anything
- Show it to them. If they like it, tell them to pay up for domain & hosting
- Go to the other 9 people and offer your services
- If they need a past work, show them the website you created for free
- Do this until you get hired
Out of all these 10 people, you will at least get 1 person who needs your services.
Option 3
If for some reason the above methods didn’t work, you have to do free work at least 3 times.
Don’t get discouraged because you’re doing free work. You’re getting experience and
testimonials which is important.
Sometimes you have to do work for a company worth half a million dollars but you have to do it
anyway. In the long run, it’s going to be worth it.
If you’re serious about freelancing, you need your own portfolio website.
It’s your modern-day CV and gateway to countless opportunities.
Most portfolios out there are bad.
Clients don’t care about your hobbies. What they care about is how you can help their business.
There are two ways you can show how you can help their business:
- Past work
- Testimonials from past clients
Most portfolios out there lack these two things.
Some may have projects, but copy-paste projects from courses they took. Your calculator project
is not going to show how you will help your clients’ business.
A great portfolio answers:
HOW, WHY, WHAT, and WHERE
- How can you help the client (A clear benefit heading)
- Why they should work with you (Testimonials)