Where to find clients

Second, clients looking for freelancers can either search for one or hold a design contest. The latter is a good choice for clients who want to see several designs as fast as possible. The design contests are a good way to get experience in understanding client briefs and translating them into a design.

Hubstaff Talent is the remote talent portal of Hubstaff, a time tracking and productivity tool. You can filter gigs according to skills, type of work full-time, hourly contract, or fixed price , date posted, pay rate, and experience level.

If you want a more exclusive freelancing platform, Toptal is the top choice. As of now, they only cater to freelance software developers, designers, finance experts, product managers, and project managers.

According to the users of Toptal, the application is strict and takes about a month or so. Workana is a freelancing website specifically for Asian freelancers.

Clients will be able to see your profile, portfolio, and ratings. They also have protected payment options for both clients and freelancers. Fiverr has become popular among freelancers because of its unique system.

Instead of clients posting gigs, freelancers can post their services and rates. But, same as Upwork, there are strategies you can use to find higher-paying projects here. For example, you can create a pricing tier where clients can get more value the more they pay.

Remember that the right clients are always willing to pay more for more value. So your job is to show them the potential value you can give for a higher price. TopCoder started in by holding competitions for coders to solve challenging tech problems and has since then grown its community to over 1. They still hold coding competitions where you can win competitive prizes and even practice to upgrade your skills.

They also post freelance gigs called Gig Works where you can apply and work directly with clients. Another big plus for TopCoder is their practice challenges that allow freelance developers to hone their skills and learn how to start competing on TopCoder. Gigster's take on matching clients with developers is a bit different. Rather than matching the client with an individual developer, Gigster assembles an entire team, using AI, led by a project manager with whom the client communicates exclusively.

The application process of Gigster seems straight-forward enough. Dribbble is a platform where clients can look for web designers whether for a full-time position or a once-off project. Formerly CodeMentorX, Arc is an exclusive freelance platform with a stringent six-layer vetting process designed to get only the cream of the crop. Six stages may sound like a lot, but getting in will expand your network and get you connections that you would otherwise have to work years to get.

The next two methods involve cold email. But wait! Instead, show your potential clients that you can help them by actually helping them before you get paid. Pick one person. One ideal prospect. Think about those three questions for a little while. One of my favorite examples of this was someone who used my own process to pitch me on a service.

A guy named Siggy read my blog and sent me a great email based on my advice. You can use it for a coaching or service business as well. The Article Outreach Method is another system that relies on cold email. Instead, you first read a how-to article to gain some skills, then you find people who are interested. Step two: Find people who have shared that article on social media, reach out to them, and offer them a done-for-you version of the service. Use Buzzsumo you can just use the day free trial.

For example, if you want to offer search engine optimization services, you could find a great step-by-step tutorial on Backlinko. As you look through the list, your goal is to find people who would be a good customer for you. Avoid other agencies or freelancers, and look for company owners or individuals who could use your help. Here is a link to the full campaign and some projected results: [link to Google doc you put together that will blow their socks off].

As soon as you have your first five clients, you need to switch to a more scalable form of outreach so you can do it on an ongoing basis. Even successful businesses will have customers or clients who stop buying for one reason or another. Those customers have to be replaced just to keep your business on an even keel. The secret to creating a successful acquisition plan is to know who would make the ideal customer.

If you sell to businesses, consider what department is most likely to buy your products or services, and what individual what level of responsibility would be the one to determine the specific purchase requirements. Determine how long the buying cycle is. Is buying your product a decision that can be made quickly by a single person? Or are you selling something that has a long buying cycle, possibly involving multiple individuals?

Next, think about how the typical buyer normally finds products or services like yours. What circles do they travel in? Are they active in social media? Who are they likely to listen to or where do they look when they want to buy your type of product or service. What could you do to get referrals and recommendations from those sources?

Write all this information down and look for patterns. Then, to get more customers, plan ways to put yourself and your information where the people in your target market can find it when they are ready to buy.

Instead, try to develop relationships with potential customers. Retweet or comment on their posts. Selling is a lot easier when you sell to people who feel like they know you. Even in the digital age, daily and weekly newspapers are still an incredible source of contact information and lead to potential new customers.

Watch for names of people who have been promoted, who have won awards, who have opened new businesses , or who in any way may be potential customers.

Send those people personalized mailings congratulating them on their success or telling them how interesting the article about them was. Include your company name and slogan plus any appropriate product information with your signature.

Better yet, give them a reason to give you their contact information. This will help you narrow in on the clients that will be most valuable to you in the future. Pro-tip: If you need help defining your target customer, download our free ideal customer profile worksheet. How you cold email your clients can make the difference between lots of new projects or an empty to-do list.

So, take time to improve your skills at cold emailing new clients. For example, you could take a course on Udemy, or study cases of real cold emails that have worked for others in your field. So, keep score: what kind of emails seem to get a better response? How does the subject line affect the probability of them opening the email? To really test the success of your cold emails, use a CRM that supports email tracking, like Copper.

That way, you can track email engagement right in Gmail, and see when people open your emails, click on your links, or open attachments. Using these insights, you can work to improve your cold emails and gain more valuable clients. Your website is your introduction to the world. Build it right, and clients will start coming to you instead of the other way around. First, make sure your website copy focuses on your clients, not on you. Next, use your website to showcase your skills.

This can be done by creating an eye-catching portfolio, or adding case studies from previous clients. Check out how email marketer John McIntyre uses his website to really sell his services. This is what you see towards the end of his sales page:.

By sharing your knowledge in a blog, you kill two birds with one stone: show off your expertise, and get more traffic to your site by building SEO-friendly content that matches what your clients are searching for. One out of every five B2B buyers will watch over an hour of video content while researching their purchase.

So, get in on the ground floor. Help your clients answer important questions, or get to know you and your services through valuable video content. They take important questions that their audience is currently asking, and turn them into actionable video that supports their message and mentions their services.

By following this example, you can create video content that helps your target audience gain trust in you as an authority, and puts them on the path to becoming valuable, long-term clients. If you have a Google My Business page as we discussed above, you can ask your clients to leave reviews on Google.

These testimonials boost the value of your services, and will help bring in higher-quality clients:. Valuable clients that last into the long term view you as an authority in your field, and trust your knowledge and expertise to get the work done right. While there are many ways to establish yourself as an authority, giving away your knowledge can help build your reputation as an expert in the community.

For example, why not create an online course? This could be a free giveaway, or a paid product that could actually earn you some side cash.

Another way to share your knowledge is to speak at events in your industry. Speaking gigs are a great way to establish authority and build trust in your potential clients. What is drip marketing and how does it work to get you more sales, more efficiently? Learn everything you need to know to set up a drip marketing campaign.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is becoming a big shopping day in the United States. Use these Small Business Saturday ideas to boost your business! Learn how to create a small business marketing plan that gets you an online presence through social media, your own website, emails, and more. Are you interested in learning more about our product? Enter your information in the form and a product expert will contact you shortly.

Try Copper free. Get the latest from Copper Chronicles delivered to your inbox. See Demo. Thanks for signing up! Clients are the lifeblood of your business. Use job boards. Scour Twitter.