Finding Freelance Website Gigs
Are you getting started as a web developer and ready to find a freelancing gig? This article will help you find clients for freelance website gigs. You can add to your experience and portfolio as a web developer through freelancing while you are a student and supplementing your income after you start a career job.
Tell the World – Your Public Presence
If you are interested in gaining practice as a web developer it is critical that the world knows that you are available for making websites.
1. Keep LinkedIn up to date. Make connections with everyone that you can. Post your finished projects on LinkedIn. Change your current job title to “Web Developer” or “Web Designer”.
2. Share your work. On social media, share updates about web development to show your connections that you are a web developer. Post links to your finished projects.
3. Create a business website. Describe the work and your expertise in a freelancing business website.
Working for Family and Friends
As a freelancer, you will find that virtually all of your clients are referred to you by someone that you know.
The best way to get started is to make websites for friends and family. Even if they can’t pay you, you are helping your friends and family.
You may not be paid for these first efforts, but there are many benefits:
- This shows the people in your life that you are able to make websites, so they can help you with referrals.
- You add a portfolio item with each website.
- You gain experience working with a “client”.
Volunteering to Create Websites
To gain experience and exposure as a web developer, you can volunteer to make websites.
Only volunteer for organizations you truly care about.
Set boundaries for what you will and won’t do. For example, when I help as a volunteer, I don’t do any website content maintenance. I try to focus my work on the more technical needs. There are pros and cons to volunteering.
Pros of Volunteering
- Depending on your skill level and your ability to sell, volunteering may be the only gig available to you.
- You add to your portfolio.
- You gain experience working with clients.
- Even if you are volunteering, they may pay you a stipend.
- Volunteering could lead to paid work or referrals to paid clients.
- If you are working for your family, you are helping your family.
Cons of Volunteering
- Depending on your skill level and your ability to sell, volunteering may be the only gig available to you.
- You add to your portfolio.
- You gain experience working with clients.
- Even if you are volunteering, they may pay you a stipend.
- Volunteering could lead to paid work or referrals to paid clients.
- If you are working for your family, you are helping your family.
Find Friends with Complementary Skills
Do you hate the thought of selling? Partner with an outgoing friend.
Do you love design, but hate the coding? Find a partner who loves the coding but is less interested in design.
Do you love coding but hate working in PhotoShop? Find a friend who loves design.
The key is to find friends with skills that differ than your own.
Online Freelancing Services
If you think selling may be a challenge for you, you could look at an online hiring service. I haven’t done it, but it’s an option. Here is one option:
The problem you may run into is that clients who use these services are often looking to pay the lower rate of developers not in the United States.
In addition, be sure you are up to speed on your skills before you join one, because you will be reviewed on your work. I would make sure you have a nice portfolio before you try this option and are confident on your skills. A service this is not a place to practice, since its a competitive market.
Onboarding New Clients
As a freelancer, your goal isn’t to make websites. It is to build relationships with clients. You will make more money invoicing the same clients over and over than finding new clients. Look for e-commerce clients, because they are more likely to need ongoing help. Encourage them to offer sales and coupons. For example, if an e-commerce website does a different sale every month, then you can invoice every month for supporting their sale. After you make the website, then offer to help them with SEO Copywriting to keep the relationship alive.
When you have a new client, you need to collect some information. The form below may help you get started. You need:
- Billing information
- Decisions on the domain name and where the website will be hosted
- You need all of the website content from the client.
Feel free to copy my form from Google Docs: New Client Interview
Track Your Time
Keep track of your time working for clients. If you are charging by the hour, your client may ask for the detail, and you need it to prepare your invoice.
If you are charging a flat rate for the project, you need it to calculate your hourly rate so you can track your progress. Your hourly rate may be very low at first, but will move up quickly as you gain experience.
Invoicing Clients
After you have clients, it is important to invoice them regularly. Never hold invoices, as this can make it harder for your clients to pay them.
I recommend keeping invoices under $1000. Put yourself in the shoes of your client. How would you feel if you received an invoice for over $1000? If you are doing extensive work for a client, that may mean invoicing weekly.
If clients are slow to pay, then slow down on your work. You don’t want to be left with an unpaid invoice. You may want to end your relationship with that client, although that can be harder to do when you are starting out. Once of the benefits of freelancing is that you can fire your client.
Never hold an invoice more than a month.
You also need a way to invoice clients and track the receipt of payments.
- Quickbooks is the most commonly used tool, but comes with a monthly fee.
- PayPal has a free invoicing tool, and most customers like to pay with PayPal. If you receive a check payment, then you post the payment manually.
Be sure to thank the customer whenever you receive a payment.
What to do if you find a bad client?
Be alert early in the relationship. If you sense that the client is willing to take advantage of others or bend the rules, the client will do that to you.
Try to send an invoice early in your relationship, to make sure they will pay. The invoice can be for work already completed or a downpayment if you are invoicing a flat rate.
When you are starting your business, you are most at risk for running into bad clients. When you find a good client, work overtime to keep them.
Working as a freelancer is a great way to gain experience and earn money as a student of Web Development. See my separate article on How to Charge Clients. If you are interested in learning more about web development, see the WebDevStudents.com HTML/CSS curriculum. We also have a training program on WordPress.